MediaLab Investigation launched at the GIJN’s Global Conference

MediaLab Investigation launched at the GIJN’s Global Conference

Ten journalists from Arab countries attended the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, which was organised by the GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network) and took place in Hamburg between 26 and 29 September 2019. It provided the perfect opportunity to officially launch MédiaLab Investigation.

Over 1500 journalists from 130 countries. The gathering, which the GIJN hosts every two years, took on a new dimension this year in Germany. To mark the occasion, CFI invited ten investigative journalists from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. They were able to take advantage of the dozens of workshops organised by the GIJN.

The conference also allowed them to develop new partnerships. “By taking part in the conference, Daraj has been given new reporting assignments and has forged new partnerships with a number of journalists," enthuses Alia Ibrahim, co-founder of the Lebanese media outlet Daraj.

Call for investigative projects

To mark the official launch of MediaLab Investigation, CFI set up the 'Health-Related Investigations' panel, which was made up of Hanene Zbiss (Inkyfada, Tunisia), Rozenn Le Saint (independent, France) and Serena Tinari (Re-Check, Switzerland). This panel, which was moderated in French by Marthe Rubio (GIJN), allowed people to exchange their thoughts and opinions concerning health-related investigations in various countries, and enabled everyone to give a detailed account of their career.

At the end of the panel, a Call for projects to investigate health in the Arab world in the field of health was launched, with the closing date scheduled for 27 October. Leila Minano, the Secretary-General of Disclose, spoke about the partnership that her organisation had forged with CFI as part of MediaLab Investigation – at the end of 2020, Disclose will publish the winning investigation (which will be selected from a field of eight) on its website.
A prize will then be awarded at the Tunis International Journalism Conference.

For the first time ever at a GIJN conference, simultaneous translation into French was made available to 25 panels, thanks to the funding received from MediaLab Investigation, which forms part of the international strategy for the French language and multilingualism.

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