A year to choose solidarity over silence

"If 2025 was the year the world woke up to democratic backsliding, 2026 may be the year journalism decides whether it will face that crisis alone or survive it together. Around the globe, authoritarians have learned to use the law to criminalize dissent through courts that perform an apparent due process while they dismantle it. The new authoritarian playbook includes a captured judiciary, economic suffocation of independent outlets, media capture and the slow erasure of collective memory."

"2026 will be defined by repression, but it may also be defined by whether journalists embrace what Maria Ressa calls radical collaboration. There is a blueprint: investigative reporters from different countries working together to build a shared defense against censorship. Veteran journalists passing down institutional knowledge to young reporters and content creators who bring momentum and innovation, and a civil society that gets organized to offer support and protection."

"2026 brings the inception of strong, strategic networks that pool resources, risks, and reach locally and across borders, like the Journalism Assistance Network, the Latin American Network of Journalism in Exile, a stronger version of the International Journalists' Network, and organizations that continue to build the future of local news. Funders will also shift from project grants to infrastructure support that includes legal defense, digital security, independent archives, mental health support and networks of exiled journalists and safe platforms in which they can continue to hold their governments accountable from abroad."

Authoritarians increasingly weaponize legal systems and captured judiciaries to criminalize dissent, economically suffocate independent outlets, capture media, and erase collective memory. Journalists face escalating repression in 2026 and must choose between isolated survival or collective defense. Cross-border investigative collaboration, mentorship from veteran reporters, support from civil society, and innovative young content creators can build shared defenses against censorship. New networks will pool resources, risks, and reach, while funders must prioritize infrastructure—legal defense, digital security, independent archives, mental health support, and safe platforms for exiled journalists. Solidarity becomes a safety strategy essential to preserving journalism and the public’s right to understand.

Read at Nieman Lab