NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Rowan Philp

Independent nonprofit media around the globe suddenly find themselves at the center of a perfect storm of at least four new existential threats.

The sudden hold on USAID foreign assistance funding by the US Trump administration has frozen an estimated $268 million in agreed grants for independent media and the free flow of information in more than 30 countries, including several under repressive regimes — and much more lost for the future — throwing much of the nonprofit watchdog sector into crisis, and potentially leaving numerous reporters, contractors, and accountability projects without pay in the weeks ahead. This is in addition to devastating cuts to the agency’s public health and humanitarian programs around the world. Despite ongoing confusion and many legal challenges, several media grantees and experts told GIJN they regard this important funding as dead.

Photo courtesy of COLYS HAT.