Where We Work

Middle East and North Africa

Previous Projects

Building Relationships

In its work in the Middle East and North Africa, Internews Network has partnered with leading local media outlets, universities, press associations, training centers and NGOs to craft professional development programs specifically suited to the needs of local partners. Building trust and ongoing relationships with these partners is integral to working effectively in the region.

• Bahrain’s University Newspaper Goes National

In partnership with the University of Bahrain, Internews helped the students of Mass Communications to redesign the school newspaper, The Voice of the University. The newspaper is now completely student-run and produced and is distributed throughout the entire Kingdom.

• The Premier Media Institute of Morocco Upgrades Approach.

In 2005, Internews sponsored Dr. Latifa Akharbach, Director of the Institut Supérieur de l’Information et de la Communication (ISIC) in Morocco on a study tour with the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, a school dedicated to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders in the United States. Dr. Akharbach then traveled to Washington, DC to meet with National Public Radio, the Washington Post, and Georgetown University. According to Dr. Akharbach, the trip was the impetus for a revision of the teaching methods used by ISIC to improve the quality of education for Morocco’s new generation of journalists.

• Building Accountability: Monitoring Lebanese Parliamentary Election Coverage in Real Time.

Internews Network and Statistics Lebanon monitored print and broadcast coverage of the Lebanese parliamentary elections before, during, and after the June 2005 elections. and Al Balad. Monitored TV channels included Future TV, LBC, and Télé Liban. A coalition of regional and local NGOs analyzed and implemented the information contained in the monitoring reports which were also made public on the Internews web site.

Bringing Innovative Approaches

Internews Network brings innovative approaches to its program in the Middle East and North Africa, from facilitating new ways to reach audiences through information and communication technologies to the use of topical trainings that address women’s issues, human rights and political change in environments where basic journalism training is less possible. Examples of these innovative approaches include:

• Tunisian Bloggers Challenged to Go Online.

Tunisian journalists joined Internews Network in recognizing World Press Freedom Day 2005 in a two-day event that culminated in an open debate over press freedom and online journalism. Following the event, several Tunisian journalists initiated blogs and hosted new websites in support of freedom of expression. The workshop was led by Gary Kebbel, founder of both USAToday. com and Newsweek.com.

• Video Conferences Open Dialog Between US and Arab Journalists.

Veteran US journalists connected via direct video conference with journalists from Morocco and Tunisia in four conversations sponsored by Internews and the US State Department in 2004 and 2005, in cooperation with the US Embassies in Morocco and Tunisia and Morocco’s Institut Supérieur de l’Information et de la Communication (ISIC).

Bill Kovach, journalist, author, editor and Chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, participated in two video conferences on the topic of “Media in Society.” Jennifer Ludden, NPR correspondent, and Gerry Holmes, senior producer of ABC’s Nightline, discussed the topic of “Media Coverage of the U.S. and Arab World” with 17 Tunisian journalists. Carin Dessauer, a senior fellow with The Media Center at the American Press Institute, led a discussion about Internet journalism.

• Investigative Reporting Turns Questions Into Stories

Experienced journalists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Bahrain and Lebanon deepened their investigative journalism skills through training that focused on the skills and legal parameters of investigative journalism, with an emphasis on critical analysis, accuracy, balance and fairness. Two days of fieldwork yielded articles investigating the Lebanese economy following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, living conditions in refugee camps, and other topics.

Fostering Entrepreneurship

Internews recognizes that media is an industry, and that independent media can only be built through the work of committed and creative entrepreneurs. Internews believes that small grants to the right entrepreneurs can yield big results and promote change. The Open Media Fund for the Middle East and North Africa, supported by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, provides small grants that range between $5,000 and $15,000 in support of local media outlets and non-profit organizations. Recent grants include:

• Yemen: Improving Women’s Journalism Skills.

Yemeni Female Media Forum trained Yemeni female journalists from diverse media outlets how to be better journalists.

• Tunis: Launch of Online Journal “Rainbow.”

Tunisian journalists constructed and designed an online information source, updated weekly, entitled “Rainbow.”

• Bahrain: Introducing Software to Improve Newspaper Design.

This grant to Bahrain Journalists Association targeted Bahraini newspaper designers from all of the Kingdom’s major publications, providing them with the skills to better use newspaper design software.

• Iraq: A New Independent Newspaper in the Kurdish Region of Iraq.

Iraqi journalists created a Kurdish-language newspaper based out of Sulaimany, Iraq, that covers local issues. The newspaper published its pilot issue in January 2006.

Promoting Policy Change

To ensure reforms are sustainable, they must build from a supportive policy and regulatory environment. Internews therefore incorporates policy components into its work regionally and globally. Examples of policy success in the MENA region include:

• Creation of a framework for media law in Iraq:

Internews spearheaded a process in which a group of 75 Iraqi, Arab, and International media experts designed a detailed media framework to ensure freedom of expression and promote independent media in Iraq in June 2003.

• Working Toward a More Accessible and Affordable Internet in Algeria:

Funded by MEPI, Internews’ Global Internet Policy Initiative Algeria project worked to increase the number of Internet users in Algeria by developing a framework of principles for Internet policy that encourages competition, transparency, and entrepreneurship in the information and communication technology sector.

• Promoting Reform through a Comprehensive Study of Media Laws in Five Countries:

Internews published “Suffocated Voices,” a media law study for Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Bahrain and Lebanon, in cooperation with Center for the Defense and Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) in Jordan.