By Dávid Tvrdoň, MDIF coach
In 2025, the global media landscape experienced a major shift in accessible aid and funding. And I’m not just talking about the gutting of USAID, that was merely the culmination of a trend many had warned about for years, while others kept dismissing such a possibility as alarmist. The tightening of international support for independent media has forced organizations worldwide to rethink their sustainability models, particularly those operating in exile.
I was fortunate to begin working with Vietnamese outlet Luật Khoa and Burmese news platform Myanmar Now during this critical transition period. Both are exiled media organizations, with leadership and many staff members living outside their home countries. Despite the distance and difficulties, both continue doing diligent journalistic work, covering events within the nations they dream of returning to one day.
This profound love for one’s own country and people taught me a great deal about being a patriot in the truest sense of the word, not the performative nationalism we’ve become accustomed to seeing from authoritarians, dictators, or far-right politicians, but genuine service to one’s community through truth and accountability.
Both organizations offer invaluable lessons in long-term planning while building independent outlets that must become sustainable amid government crackdowns, always maintaining the hope of one day becoming a “regular” part of their country’s media ecosystem, doing their work from home rather than from behind borders.
When I first met Swe Win, the founder of Myanmar Now, it was in Vienna during a conference where he received the 2023 Free Media Pioneer award. During a panel I hosted, he spoke passionately about the projects he planned to launch and his vision for building a community that would one day sustain the entire organization. At the time, I didn’t know that I would become part of that story too, thanks to MDIF, which gave me the opportunity to work closely with the whole team.
When we started working together, the donor environment was very different to the situation we are experiencing today. Back then, there was little pressure for independent media to focus on audience-funded sustainability and many were resistant to doing so. Myanmar Now was no exception. Thankfully, over time, we were able to demonstrate that establishing non-donor revenue sources need not negatively impact a media’s independence. Consequently, when donor funding dramatically reduced in early 2025, Maynmar Now had already set up a paid subscription service for its English site.
Over two years of collaboration, we achieved significant milestones. We launched multiple newsletters, completely redesigned the website, introduced a subscription model for the English-language content, and created a membership program for the Burmese-speaking audience. We also executed several strategic outreach campaigns. All these initiatives shared a simple but crucial goal: securing direct support from the audience and reducing reliance on external donor funding. The road ahead remains long and challenging but witnessing thousands of online comments from fans and supporters cheering and rooting for Swe Win and the brave journalists and editors of the Myanmar Now team has been genuinely life changing. This overwhelming support demonstrates what authentic audience service looks like, and within it lies the true foundation of sustainability for any modern media organization.
The story of Luật Khoa shares many parallels, though my first meeting with co-founder Trịnh Hữu Long happened via video call, him connecting from exile in Taipei, me from my home base in Bratislava. We met in person a year later in Malaysia and his passion for independent journalism and free media in Vietnam was immediately palpable. He brimmed with ideas about building a media house that would serve the Vietnamese community while also informing international audiences.
Luật Khoa and its dedicated team have undergone a substantial transformation of their business model and approach to future sustainability. Like Myanmar Now, Luật Khoa’s team initially favoured using donor funding to support its journalism, rather than relying on their audience to be the cornerstone of overall revenue. Their concern was that the audience could not generate enough revenue to sustain a media organization. Fast forward two years and Luật Khoa’s audience has been growing week by week after they started doing breaking news stories.
Audience revenue is just their latest endeavour. Before that they started by introducing new news products, including a weekly news summary newsletter that has since evolved into a daily news production vertical currently being built out. For years, Luật Khoa has invested heavily in creating explanatory videos, which helped introduce the brand to wider audiences.
Both cases offer numerous lessons that directly counter the persistent narrative that exile media shouldn’t or can’t generate revenue. In fact, building sustainable income streams is proving to be an absolute necessity for long-term survival. Let’s be honest: a healthy donor ecosystem should actively seek to fund media organizations that demonstrate the ambition and capability to eventually operate independently of donor support.
Both Luật Khoa and Myanmar Now prioritized understanding their audiences first. Launching comprehensive audience surveys revealed reader preferences and gave both outlets clear insights into whom they serve. This information proves invaluable not just for editorial direction but also for building future advertising revenue streams.
Second, establishing direct communication channels with audiences became essential. One of the most effective solutions was launching newsletters. Email newsletters don’t just collect contact information, they build daily or weekly habits, creating regular touchpoints where subscribers spend meaningful time with your content in their inboxes, strengthening the relationship between outlet and reader.
Third, both organizations approached their future by building news products specifically designed to serve their audiences’ needs rather than simply producing whatever seemed easiest or most familiar. This audience-first product development strategy ensures that growth is organic and sustainable.
The experiences of Myanmar Now and Luật Khoa illuminate a crucial truth: exile media can build sustainable business models even while operating under extraordinary constraints. Their success stems from unwavering commitment to serving their audiences, willingness to experiment with new revenue streams and content formats, and recognition that long-term independence requires short-term investment in audience development and product innovation.
The future belongs to media organizations that view their audiences not as passive consumers but as active partners in sustaining quality journalism.
This essay is part of a series highlighting the journeys of independent media organizations supported through MDIF’s media business capacity-building program across South and Southeast Asia, as they experiment with business models, strengthen resilience and adapt to challenging environments. Together, these stories contribute to a broader exploration of sustainability and innovation in independent media, which will be compiled into a full report following the release of the series.