Nicaraguan Journalism in Exile: Precarity, Silence, and Resistance
Independent journalism in Nicaragua is undergoing a period of sustained deterioration marked by shrinking international funding, precarious working conditions in exile, tighter state control over information, and a climate of fear that pushes many journalists to abandon the profession or practice it in silence.
Recent reports by specialists, professional organizations, and monitoring centers agree that conditions are unlikely to improve in 2026.
Journalist and professor of Social Communication Alfonso Malespín believes the current crisis is the result of a combination of economic and political factors that have weakened the media ecosystem that emerged after the sociopolitical crisis that erupted in 2018 in Nicaragua.
According to Malespín, since that year digital-native outlets became an alternative for sustaining independent journalism after the closure, confiscation, or economic suffocation of numerous newsrooms within the Central American country of 7.1 million inhabitants.
However, this model depended heavily on international cooperation and began to falter when several funding programs were reduced or canceled starting in 2025, beginning with those of the United States Agency for International Development.
“The shift in priorities of European governments and the United States has significantly affected the sustainability of Nicaraguan media in exile,” Malespín said in an interview.
According to his analysis, the first reaction of many newsrooms was to reduce costs. This meant fewer in-depth investigations, staff cuts, lower salaries, and a reduced frequency of publication.
Malespín argues that this process has not only made journalistic work more precarious but has also weakened investigative capacity. He explains that networks of sources within Nicaragua have been lost, and the news agenda—as well as the diversity of journalistic formats—has shrunk.
The academic also warns that several outlets have attempted to explore new sustainability models, but so far the results have been modest and some projects have disappeared.
Of the 42 digital media outlets that emerged after 2018, fewer than half remain active today. Some were accessible until 2024, when Nicaragua’s Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services annulled the domains under which they operated within the country, while others established abroad could not withstand economic constraints.
Malespín also attributes part of the current uncertainty to the regional political context.
He notes that Costa Rica—which for years served as the main refuge for Nicaraguan journalists—shows signs of strain as a host country due to rising migration flows, pressure on public services, and a less favorable political climate toward migrants.
In this context, he adds, the election of the right-leaning neopopulist Laura Fernández, who will take office on May 8, raises concerns among sectors of the exile community, particularly due to the potential tightening of already restrictive migration policies and the prioritization of security issues.
A Nicaraguan journalist who left Costa Rica in 2025 and now resides in a European country, requesting anonymity for security reasons, described the decision to move again as the result of both economic hardship and fear.
“There came a point when I could no longer sustain myself. I had two jobs and it still wasn’t enough. There was also fear, a lot of distrust, the feeling that you weren’t completely safe,” she said about living in a country bordering Nicaragua.
Leaving the profession and everyday precarity
The concrete effects of this crisis have been documented by the organization Periodistas y Comunicadores Independientes de Nicaragua, whose report presented at the end of 2025 describes a significant deterioration in the living and working conditions of journalists.
Gerall Chávez states that the study’s data reflect a deep economic and labor crisis that has forced many journalists to change professions or practice journalism only partially.
The report, based on surveys of more than one hundred exiled communicators, indicates that 81% reported a drastic drop in income over the past year, and 59% had to engage in other activities to survive.
“A large majority have had to work in areas unrelated to journalism, such as hospitality, construction, or domestic services,” Chávez explained.
The study also reveals that only 56% continue practicing journalism actively, while 27% do so partially and at least 14% have left the profession altogether.
According to Chávez, the precariousness extends to labor conditions. Only 43.8% of the journalists surveyed have formal employment, while the rest work informally or as freelancers with unstable income.
Many journalists struggle to cover basic needs such as housing, food, and healthcare, forcing them to prioritize urgent expenses and limiting the time and resources available for journalistic work.
Life in exile, the study adds, is also marked by migration uncertainty. Only 44.6% have obtained refugee status or asylum, while 38.4% are still awaiting a decision.
A Nicaraguan journalist who remains in San José but has left the media industry and requested anonymity said her life has changed radically over the past two years.
“At first you think it’s temporary, that you’ll soon return to work or that the outlet will stabilize. But months pass, then years, and you end up taking any job to pay the rent. I decided to step away from journalism because I couldn’t sustain myself,” she said.
Despite this situation, Chávez maintains that the report also shows a strong commitment to the profession. According to the data, most journalists still express the intention to continue practicing journalism in the long term, even under adverse conditions.
Surveillance, digital attacks, and silence as protection
The deterioration of the environment for Nicaraguan media has also been documented by the Fundación por la Libertad de Expresión y Democracia. In a report released on December 31, 2025, the organization concludes that conditions for practicing journalism are expected to become even worse in 2026.
Guillermo Medrano states that repression against the press has transformed but has not diminished.
“Conditions for practicing journalism continue to harden, combining state repression with persistent digital attacks, forced displacement of journalists, and legal provisions with direct effects on informational freedom,” he said.
According to the organization’s records, at least 309 journalists have been forced into exile since 2018 as a direct consequence of their reporting.
The report also documented 18 attacks against journalists and media outlets between October and December 2025, many of them occurring in the digital environment.
Medrano warns that the decline in the number of complaints does not imply an improvement in the situation.
“Many journalists choose silence as a form of protection for themselves and their families, even in exile due to cross-border repression,” he explained.
Monitoring by the organization identified threats, smear campaigns, and hate speech on social networks targeting independent media. Of the recorded attacks during that period, 72% were attributed to non-state actors.
FLED also warns that the entry into force of Nicaragua’s General Law on Convergent Telecommunications, approved in 2025, expands the state’s ability to monitor communications and restrict the flow of information.
Among other provisions, the law requires communication service providers to deliver users’ digital data to police and security forces.
The report also confirms that at least three journalists remain under what the organization describes as “de facto house arrest,” without procedural guarantees or transparency regarding their legal status.
An exile that began in 2018 and continues today
Experts agree that the current crisis in independent journalism cannot be understood without the context that began in April 2018.
According to analyses by PCIN and FLED, the social protests that erupted that year and the subsequent state repression marked the beginning of a process of closing civic space that directly affected independent journalism amid the deepening authoritarianism of the government.
In April 2018, thousands of citizens took to the streets against the government of former leftist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007. The protests initially opposed a reform to the social security system that reduced benefits for workers and retirees.
The demonstrations quickly expanded into a national movement questioning the government and demanding its departure.
Authorities responded by deploying security forces and parapolice groups in operations that human rights organizations described as excessive use of force.
According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and local organizations, the repression left at least 355 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and thousands detained, many of whom reported torture and mistreatment.
Since then, the government has promoted legal reforms and new regulations that, according to human rights organizations, criminalize protests and political dissent under charges such as “treason” or crimes against state security.
These provisions resulted in arbitrary arrests of opposition figures, activists, business leaders, religious leaders, and journalists, as well as the closure or confiscation of independent media outlets.
Since 2018, press organizations have documented the closure, cancellation, or confiscation of at least 56 media outlets and the exile of more than 300 journalists, some of whom were stripped of their nationality or had their civil and professional documents annulled, effectively leaving them stateless.
This strategy—within a broader hardening of the authoritarian regime under Ortega—has significantly reduced the space for independent information and forced a large part of Nicaraguan journalism to continue its work from exile.
Medrano explains that since 2018 journalists have faced threats, surveillance, smear campaigns, legal proceedings, confiscations, and legal reforms aimed at restricting freedom of expression.
This climate of criminalization of journalistic work pushed hundreds of communicators to leave the country in order to protect their personal safety and that of their families.
For many, what initially seemed like temporary exile has lasted for years, transforming journalism into a dispersed, economically fragile activity marked by uncertainty.
The journalist now living in Europe summarizes this reality with a phrase she says she often hears among Nicaraguan colleagues:
“You are still a journalist, but you no longer live like one.”
Source: Inter Press Service (IPS Noticia)
Author: José Mendieta
Picture: José Mendieta / IPS