Brave media – supporting independent media worldwide

Public interest media play a vital role in democracy and development – yet in 2025, press freedom reached a historic low, with conditions for journalism now rated “difficult” or worse in over half the world’s countries, amid intensifying political, legal and economic pressure. Across countries, journalists face political and security threats, financial strain, rising mis- and disinformation, and a deepening crisis of trust – which together pose an existential threat to independent media and to democracy itself.

Brave Media will respond to these by supporting locally led solutions that help media outlets and networks operate safely, build resilience, and continue delivering trusted information to communities in the face of growing political, financial and digital threats.

The project will be led by BBC Media Action, working in a consortium with eight other organisations – Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), Equal Rights and Independent Media (ERIM), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Fondation Hirondelle, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Samir Kassir Foundation, SembraMedia, and the World Association of News Publishers WAN-IFRA.

The initiative will deliver mentoring and support for media outlets and individual journalists, technical assistance to sector bodies, piloting scalable solutions, cross-regional peer learning, and global policy engagement. It will also offer financial support to 40 independent media outlets, 12 of them led by women.

Brave Media will:

• Help independent media outlets address gender equity while improving their capacity to manage their organisations, operate safely, and deliver public interest journalism.
• Strengthen sector-level coordination and support for independent media
• Support media practitioners globally to access learning opportunities, tools, research and evidence.
• Build the capacity of national, regional and global policymakers and stakeholders to better address the needs of independent media in the global majority countries.

Ultimately, the Brave Media project will enable communities who depend on balanced, accurate and engaging public interest content to make informed decisions about issues that affect their lives.