Germany says it will provide financial support for journalists working in crisis regions around the world.

The country’s foreign ministry will give the Hannah Arendt Initiative protection programme €3.5 million ($3.4 million) this year, the government said on Friday.

“The funds will thereby benefit media professionals who continue to promote independent reporting in their countries of origin through their work, initially 360 people abroad.”

Refugee journalists working in exile will also benefit from the programme that is jointly run by the foreign ministry and Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

The funding programme is already running in a pilot phase in Germany and abroad, helping journalists at risk in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

The programme consists of emergency scholarships, training measures, regional scholarship programmes and exile journalism centres in third countries, and similar measures in Germany, according to the organisers.

Germany’s Commissioner for Culture and the Media already funds the JX Fund with around €4.2 million this year, and has helped more than 500 media professionals since April.

However, both projects will be part of the protection programme in the future.

(dpa/NAN)