Awards to journalists for stories on environmental issues

taherinima on 19. December 2022

By Lamis Issa

Joudy Alasmar, a Lebanese journalist, won the first award during a closing ceremony in Tunis on 30 November 2022 for her investigation on the landfill in Tripoli.  

From the left to the right, Rafik ben Abdallah a journalist and member of the oversight body for access to information, Joudy Alasmar, a journalist from Lebanon and Karim Belhadj Aissa, ARTICLE19 MENA Transparency Program Coordinator (Photo: ARTICLE 19 MENA)

Her work is part of a five-year collaboration between ARTICLE 19 MENA (Middle East and North Africa), the Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI) at La Manouba University and JMIC on “Support the right to information and investigative journalism in the MENA region.”  The edition of 2022 focused on environmental issues. 

The award ceremony was organized in hybrid format with the presence of trainee journalists, trainers and coaches, and other guests. The trainee journalists presented their experiences in this program and highlighted the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned. 

As part of the ceremony, a discussion was held about investigative journalism and environmental issues in the MENA region.  

Mayssa Sandli, environmental activist and owner of 1st Media specialized in environmental issues in Tunisia. (Photo: ARTICLE19 MENA)

This discussion was conducted between journalists, including investigative journalists and journalists specialized on environmental issues, experts on access to information, and environmental activists who took part in this discussion to debate challenges, the accessibility of environmental information within the laws on access to information in the MENA region, and the importance of environmental journalism.  

Digital Media Workshops concluded in Palestine

taherinima on 12. December 2022

By Farid Abudheir

The Department of Communication & Digital Media at
An-Najah National University organized a closing ceremony for the workshops carried out at the university campus on Wednesday 30th November 2022.  

At the ceremony, certificates were given to the 69 students participating in the workshops, and prizes were also given to the students who made remarkable journalism works.  

Participants in the workshops holding their certificates (Photo: Roea Zebin)

The workshops dealt with three topics: the first was entitled “The Flow of Global News Stream on Social Media concerning Environmental and Climate Issues“. The second workshop was regarding “The Investigative Reporting on Corruption“, while the third workshop dealt with the issue of “Access to Information“. 

Students from An-Najah National, Arab American, Hebron, and Palestine Technical (Kadoorie) universities have participated in the third workshop, where the competing students prepared media materials in the field of access to information including press reports, videos, and posters.  

Regarding the “investigative reporting on corruption” competition, the students produced a set of journalistic investigations that dealt with corruption issues, used research tools to collect data, analyzed and discussed them, and put forward possible solutions to those issues.  

A set of works produced by students, short films and posters in particular, were presented. 

Dr. Farid Abudheir declaring the results of the competition of the media production (Photo: Sameh Abu Alrub)

The ceremony was attended by Dr. Farid Abudheir, Coordinator of Joint Projects with JMIC at Oslo Metropolitan University, Dr. Hussam Abu Diya, Dr. Abdeljawad Abdeljawad, Mr. Ayman Al-Masri, Dr. Islam Halayka,  Dr. Said Shahin, Head of the Department of Media at Hebron University, and Ms. Ramz Bsharat from the Arab American University. 

Trainers and judges honoring one of the students who participated in the workshops (Photo: Sameh Abu Alrub)

Dr. Farid Abudheir has praised the participation of the Palestinian universities in the “Access to Information” workshop. He also stressed the importance of the three topics addressed by the workshops, especially in raising awareness of the issues of access to information, corruption issues, and environmental and climate issues. Besides, he considered that these workshops were aimed at spreading awareness of these issues and enhancing the student’s abilities to address them using media tools. 

Not to mention, Dr. Abudheir thanked An-Najah National University including its administration and departments that helped in making these workshops a success. He also thanked JMIC at OsloMet, which supported the projects implemented by the Department of Communication and Digital Media at An-Najah National University. The meeting was concluded by taking group photos of the participants.  

Investigative journalism techniques for Arab journalists

taherinima on 12. September 2022

By: Lamis Issa

A physical training workshop was held in Tunis for seven journalists – four of them women – from Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon 28 – 30 June 2022. 

The workshop was part of the project “Support the right to information and investigative journalism on environmental issues in the MENA region» in cooperation with the local partner the Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI ) at Manouba University in Tunisia. 

Hanene Zbiss, Trainer and Coach (Photo: Article 19 MENA).

The workshop comes within the framework of cooperation between Article 19 MENA and JMIC running for several years. The participants have also had digital lectures in access to information, the legal framework of investigative journalism and safety and security for journalists.   

During this workshop seven journalists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) were able to deepen their knowledge on investigative journalism on the following main topics: Investigative methodology, sources of information and writing an investigative report. 

From the right to the left, Joudy Asmar; Lebanese participant, and Hanene Zbiss; Trainer and Coach  (Photo: Article 19 MENA).

In addition, the training workshop allowed participants to better understand the methods for constructing the hypotheses of their investigative journalistic work, and to obtain more technical advice from the trainers and coachers, Hanene Zbiss from Tunisia and Anass Bendrif from Morocco. 

The training was also an opportunity to recall and discuss the ethical rules in journalism, and especially the exceptions allowed in matters of investigation. In addition, advice was given to them regarding their professional security and the protection of their sources. 

Anass Bendrif and Hanene Zbiss, Trainers and Coaches (Photo: Article 19 MENA).

The last day of the training workshop was devoted to discussing their future subjects for investigation. The participants will work on their individual stories with coaching until the end of the year, when they will hopefully meet for a closing  ceremony.   

Women winners of awards

elisabe on 19. December 2019

Hind Mafadhel together with Hamida El Bour and Karim Belhadj Aissa and Paddy Clouther in ARTICLE 19 (to the left).

The journalists Hind Mafadhel and Sameh Gharsallah received the awards of the ‘Investigative Journalism and Access to Information (ATI) Regional Training’ project in North Africa last week.  Read More

Promoting Access to Information as a Driver for Sustainable Development

elisabe on 16. October 2019

Sandra Musoga Waswa, Acting Regional Director,  ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa

On 25th and 26th September 2019, ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa in collaboration with UNESCO and the Journalism & Media International Center of OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway, sought to undertake two major activities in commemoration of the “International Day of Universal Access to Information 2019”. Read More