Member Profiles
FOI’s Man in the Middle East
In 2007, Jordan became the first country in the Middle East to enact freedom of information laws — and Musab Al-Shawabkeh is the award-winning journalist who has been taking full advantage of it.
In 2007, Jordan became the first country in the Middle East to enact freedom of information laws — and Musab Al-Shawabkeh is the award-winning journalist who has been taking full advantage of it.
Journalists from Egypt, Yemen and Jordan who exposed human rights abuse and state-run mass surveillance took top prizes for the best investigations in print, film and multimedia in 2017 at the 10th Forum for Arab Investigative Journalists this weekend.
This week, some 400 Arab journalists will be meeting at Jordan’s Dead Sea for the 10th Annual Arab Investigative Journalism Forum. Rana Sabbagh writes about the Arab world’s fake news epidemic — and how some Arab journalists are fighting back.
The ability to protect journalism sources in the digital age is rapidly deteriorating. Those are the conclusions of an important new study recently released by UNESCO. GIJN has excerpted key portions here, drawn from extensive research and interviews with investigative reporters, editors, legal experts and freedom of expression specialists from 17 countries.
Some crucial stories have been uncovered by investigative journalists in the Arab world but they don’t get the attention – or the traction – they deserve. What they could use is some lessons in marketing.
It’s been a busy first quarter of 2017 for GIJN members — from picking up Pulitzer Prizes to launching crowdfunding campaigns. There have also been new projects and new collaborations forged. Here are some noteworthy splashes made by GIJN members around the world.
Divine intervention appears to be the only thing protecting journalists in Iraq these days. Local reporters are sent off to do conflict reporting with no prior training and equipped with bad, cheaply made and easily penetrable vests. Mustafa Sa’adoun, director of Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, details the dangers of being an Iraqi war reporter.
We’re delighted to announce that GIJN has launched two new initiatives with our members: GIJN in Russian, in partnership with the Regional Press Development Institute (RPDI); and GIJN Arabic, in partnership with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ). We’ll be sharing the best investigative tips & tools, groundbreaking stories, grants & fellowships, data sets and more.
Five Arab journalists who exposed torture and injustice in their societies won the 2016 ARIJ Prizes at the end of the 9th Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) forum during a gala dinner on Dec 3. The awardees shone a spotlight on important stories and tackled them with courage and dedication, taking care to highlight the depth of human feelings in their stories.
Investigative reporting has never been a profitable business, especially when it relies on the support of governments or non-profit foundations. But now the funds are dwindling and costs are on the rise. Donors have new priorities, not least a global and intensifying refugee crisis and de-radicalization. However, Arab journalists fought to initiate free speech and honest reporting in the Arab region and continue to fight to maintain them, with no intention of giving up now.