By Enock Sithole
Several independent media organisations around the world are reeling from the US government’s withdrawal of funding, which was announced in January by President Donald Trump’s administration.
World-renowned organisations such as the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) are severely affected by the funding freeze, which might lead to the closure of some of their projects in several countries worldwide.
GIJN’s senior reporter, Rowan Philp, wrote in an article in February 2025 that “the sudden hold on USAID (United States Agency for International Development) 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.” Some of the affected countries include “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, ” he added.
He lamented that despite ongoing confusion and many legal challenges, several media grantees and experts told GIJN they regard this funding as “dead”.
GIJN board member and investigative journalism Professor, Anton Harber, said the cuts were a serious blow to independent media around the world, and the winners were the corrupt and dishonest individuals who would no longer be subjected to scrutiny by investigative journalism.
The Global Official Development Assistance (ODA) said that the US government’s funded support for journalism and media development was a small component, averaging at just $130 million per year – making it 0.002% of the US’s $6.1 trillion federal budget. According to the ODA, “the funding freezes threatened to further weaken the already damaged information environments and independent journalism in fragile states, leaving citizens without access to reliable information that is essential for crisis response, governance, and public accountability.”
ODA added that “the suspension of US media assistance risks more than just the survival of independent outlets – it endangers lives, weakens global security, and erodes the foundations of international development”.
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the USAID, which had been discursing funding on behalf of the US government, recently “boasted” about supporting more than 6,000 journalists, around 700 independent newsrooms, and nearly 300 media-focused civil society groups in more than 30 countries.
Another well-known victim of Trump’s wrath was the Voice of America, which went off the air soon after Trump issued an executive order on March 14 that pared funding to the Agency for Global Media, which runs the service.
However, a federal judge halted the Trump administration’s decision to shut down the eight-decade-old US government-funded international news service, calling the move a “classic case of arbitrary and capricious decision making”.
Not much is known about the impact of the funding cuts on media projects in Africa. However, Professor Harber said funding for one of the projects under the investigative journalism initiative of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation hung in the balance.
The Botswana-based project is part of a Southern African investigative journalism initiative spearheaded by the foundation. It had been funded by the US government, while similar projects in other Southern African Development Community countries were funded by other donors.
Professor Harber said there had been a flurry of communication between the foundation and the US State Department regarding the funding. The first communication was in the form of a letter informing the foundation that funding was terminated. Then, the foundation was instructed to submit information for the State Department to evaluate if the project met certain criteria to continue receiving funding.
Then, correspondence came advising that the project would continue to be funded, only for another letter to come asking if they conformed to the DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) concept. The DEI encompasses the symbiotic relationship, philosophy and culture of acknowledging, embracing, supporting, and accepting those of all racial, sexual, gender, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, among other differentiators.
Professor Harber said this enquiry threw a spanner in the works because the foundation was not certain if it answered in the negative, it would not be violating South African laws, which are unequivocal on the need for diversity. The foundation is consulting its lawyers and discussing the issue within its board of directors to establish the best way to reply to the State Department’s enquiry.
Professor Harber was also concerned with the plight of GIJN personnel in the US because they felt that the country was a “safe haven”, but with the hostility being shown by the Trump administration, it was no longer certain that they enjoyed protection.
Meanwhile, Dr Kate Skinner, the executive director of the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) in South Africa, told Ajenda AIP had been impacted by the closure of the Media Viability Accelerator. This was an international programme that was supported by USAID, she said. The programme had more than 20 institutional partners, including AIP, and it had 1000 users. It offered funding, free advice and networking services regarding media sustainability.
Alternatives to US funding are being sought in various parts of the world. In a letter to philantropists, governments, and multilateral institutions that fund journalism and media support developed collaboratively with Global Forum on Migration and Developmen (GFMD) members and partners and signed by 103 press freedom, journalism support, free expression, and media development organisations, an urgent call was made for support for independent media and journalism “to uphold obligations under international human rights law and the commitments you have made to the free expression, media freedom, journalism, media, and digital rights communities”.
Professor Harber said there were discussions with European organisations to see if they could help close the funding gap opened by the withdrawal of US government funding.
In the case of South Africa, the South African National Editors’ Forum’s (Sanef) Hopewell Radebe said the government should implement the undertaking to spend at least 30% of its advertising in community media. This sector is largely dependent on donor funding and has been struggling due to a lack of financial resources.