Investigative Journalism in MENA: Struggling Against Tyranny, Fighting to Survive

April 07, 2025 – Source: Global Investigative Journalism Network – 

In his influential book on tyranny and authoritarianism published at the dawn of the 20th century, the prominent Syrian intellectual Abdul Rahman Al-Kawakibi wrote: “A tyrannical government is oppressive in all its branches, from the supreme despot to the policeman, the servant, and even the street sweeper.”

Al-Kawakibi was notable for being openly critical of the political establishment of the era — particularly the rulers of the late Ottoman Empire in the 19th century — and wrote that tyranny violated Islamic teachings. More recently, his books were passed around among Arab Spring protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

By speaking truth to authoritarian leaders and regimes of his time, Al-Kawakibi laid the groundwork for the values that drive today’s investigative journalists in the Arab world — where they face heavy censorship, threats, imprisonment, and anti-press freedom laws. His legacy shows that while investigative reporting in its current form is a relatively young field, it builds upon this tradition of holding those in power accountable.

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 global analysis noted that in the Middle East and North Africa, “journalists are subjected to pressure from politicians in all countries in the region,” noting that it contains four of the world’s 10 biggest jailers of journalists.

Investigative journalism in MENA is like an air plant — it grows without the roots and soil of robust democratic systems, access to information laws, and open data. But journalists working in the region note that these challenges make their work all the more essential.

Ali Eid, editor-in-chief of Syria Indicator — which recently exposed a military hospital’s role in forging death certificates to cover up the Assad regime’s crimes — notes: “The lack of press freedom and transparency among official entities, along with the high likelihood of administrative and governmental corruption — as well as corruption in the private sector — gives investigative journalism a unique role in holding power to account and exposing crime and corruption.”

Walid Al Majri, founder of Tunisian outlet Alqatiba, adds: “Lack of transparency at the official level increases the importance of investigative journalism, especially in tracking public funds and uncovering violations.”

GIJN surveyed investigative outlets in the Arab world about the most critical challenges facing investigative journalism — from funding issues to spyware, censorship and weaponized laws, the staggering risks of covering war, and backsliding democracy.

 

Mapping the Journey: From One to Eight and Beyond

In early 2017, when GIJN launched its Arabic-language service, ARIJ — the first nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Arabic-speaking investigative journalists — was its only member. Since then, the GIJN Arabic network has expanded to include seven more: SIRAJ and Syria Indicator from Syria; The Public Source from Lebanon; 7iber from Jordan; Alqatiba and Inkyfada from Tunisia; the Media Development Center at Birzeit University in Palestine; and Radio Zamaneh from Iran.

They and other investigative journalism organizations in the region such as the pan-Arab platform Daraj Media, Mada Masr in Egypt, and BBC Eye Arabic have played a significant role in producing high-quality investigative reporting, with their work frequently featured among GIJN Arabic Editors’ Picks in the past years.

Resilience and professionalism have been defining traits among investigative journalism outlets. Examples are plentiful:

• In early 2024, ARIJ shifted a significant part of its operations to supporting Gazan journalists and providing an emergency safety net, such as financial support or equipment. They also collaborated with Forbidden Stories to investigate the reported targeting of journalists in Gaza. More recently, they worked with the Guardian to investigate reports of Gazan medics being tortured in Israeli prisons.
• Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ) — an independent media outlet operating from exile with limited resources — has published dozens of investigations into the former Assad regime. An investigation with the OCCRP looked into how companies manipulate sanctions and regulations to redirect shipments to Syria, where they are then used for military operations and the suppression of the Syrian people. After publication, Swedish EU parliament members urged the EU to review its sanctions policy towards Syria. Their reporting has also resulted in the team being tracked by the former Syrian General Intelligence Directorate.
• In Egypt, independent outlet Mada Masr continues to investigate a powerful figure with ties to the regime, uncovering how this individual’s company has benefited from the Gaza blockade. Egypt’s public prosecutor has summoned and questioned the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah. “We can’t afford loopholes in our reporting,” says Attalah. “We can’t afford sensationalism. We cannot afford mistakes. This [ethos] is protecting Mada Masr tremendously — it’s our first and last frontline. And that’s very obvious, even to those who try to undermine our work.

 

Funding: The Lifeblood

In our regional survey, every respondent identified the lack of funding as the number one threat. Funding plays a vital role in investigative journalism, a demanding and costly craft that requires extensive research, sophisticated tools, travel, post-publication engagement, multiple legal reviews, and fair pay for the journalistic team involved. Any shortage of funding can significantly impact one or more of these essential elements, potentially compromising the quality of reporting.

“In Lebanon, the biggest challenge is securing the right resources,” says Alia Ibrahim, co-founder and CEO of Daraj Media. “We have a team of excellent investigative journalists, access to crucial data and potentially impactful stories, and strong connections with international journalist networks that enhance reporting and visibility in multiple languages.” But the main obstacle, she explains, is securing funding to retain journalists full-time and allowing them to pursue new investigations and follow up on previously published stories.

In January 2025, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to freeze most US Agency of International Development (USAID) funding and operations worldwide. As GIJN has reported, independent media outlets that rely on USAID funding have been severely impacted, projects have been shut down, and contracts with journalists have been terminated.

Rawan Damen, managing director of ARIJ, described the impact on their organization. “The funding freeze means a loss of roughly 20% of our annual budget that was supposed to support several projects, including an environmental journalism fellowship and our annual forum,” says Damen. “Of course, as projects like these were well underway, simply stopping some activities is not feasible. We have been compelled to pull from our unrestricted funds… we need to cancel some of our planned 2025 activities and make some painful cuts.”

Mustafa Khalili, editor of BBC Eye Arabic Investigations, says that the organization is fortunate to have access to a range of resources, from legal and high-risk safety support to editorial oversight and open-source investigative tools. “These provide us with the means to produce high-impact, high-quality investigative documentaries,” says Khalili. “However, when resources are limited, it really impacts both the evidence-gathering stage, the production process, and sadly, how the story is told and presented.”

 

Legacy of War

War and conflict have also made investigative journalism in the region a risky and near-impossible craft. According to RSF, in 2024, attacks on journalists intensified, especially in conflict zones, and Gaza was the most dangerous place in the world for reporters.

Investigative journalists in countries experiencing war and conflict have found themselves torn between covering daily war news, securing their safety and that of their families, and prioritizing their survival. Even those working in neighboring countries often find themselves racing to cover the aftermath of these simultaneous, ongoing conflicts.

Wars and political turmoil shape investigative journalism and give it a distinct identity, according to Ali Al Ibrahim, co-founder of SIRAJ. “Given the economic and political situation in the region, the influence of smuggling networks and informal economies, such as the drug and arms trade, is growing,” Al Ibrahim explains. “Here, investigative journalism plays a crucial role in exposing illegal economic activities that finance conflicts and worsen civilian suffering.” One of SIRAJ’s biggest stories was a collaborative project that tracked the final fate of Syrians who were deported from Lebanon and forcibly returned to Syria.

In the first months of the Israel-Gaza war, GIJN ran a round-up piece on watchdog journalism covering the conflict. It noted that due to Israel’s blockade preventing international journalists from entering Gaza and the severe conditions endured by local Gaza reporters, most investigations were conducted remotely. While revealing war atrocities remains crucial, the lack of local witnesses and perspectives undermines the independent context needed for investigating and documenting them.

Hoda Osman, executive editor at ARIJ, tells GIJN: “Reporting from Gaza was difficult — sources and journalists in the field often had no internet or cell service, lived in tents through harsh weather, and struggled to secure basic necessities like food and water, all while facing personal loss and constant danger.”

Israeli journalists reporting on the war in Gaza have faced threats and backlash — not least from their government, which approved a boycott against Haaretz for its critical coverage, including its huge database of potential war crimes. Investigative journalist and Oscar-winning filmmaker Yuval Abraham’s reporting for +972 Magazine made global news with an exposé on the IDF’s use of an AI algorithm to direct bombing targets in Gaza. He has received death threats for public statements about the war. Nonprofit site Shomrim — the Center for Media and Democracy in Israel — has also investigated increasing violence in the West Bank, where settler militias, armed by the IDF, have mounted widespread attacks against Palestinians during the war.

Despite facing legal and funding challenges in Lebanon, The Public Source published an investigation during the recent Israeli strikes documenting Lebanon’s lost villages, “a collaborative project involving over 10 contributors, including journalists, historians, researchers, and designers,” says Lara Bitar, The Public Source’s founding editor.

The burden on investigative journalists in countries affected by years of war extends far beyond the fighting. An Iraqi journalist explored this struggle in a piece for GIJN:  Investigative Journalism in Iraq Was Never Easy. Now It’s Almost Impossible. The piece analyzed the influence of powerful militias — which only grew stronger after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the US withdrawal — in silencing investigative journalists in Iraq.

“In the past, we used to write about militias and armed groups outside the state, but now the militias, in one way or another, have become part of the state,” explains Saman Noah, co-founder of the Network of Iraqi Reporters for Investigative Journalism (NIRIJ).

 

Laws and Surveillance: The Two-Headed Snake

Musab Al-Shawabka, an investigative journalist and an expert on anti-press laws, notes that the “arsenal” of laws regulating journalism that favor authorities is one of the principal reasons investigative journalism is so difficult. “In authoritarian Arab states, these laws are a political tool rather than a regulatory framework,” he writes. “Many investigative journalists now spend their time in courtrooms, interrogation sessions, detention centers, or prisons, often facing trumped-up or politically motivated charges.”

Surveillance is another favored authoritarian tool. In 2021-2022, the Jordanian government targeted a group of journalists and activists with Pegasus spyware — two of them directly related to their investigative journalism work. Rana Al-Sabbagh, the co-founder of ARIJ who was the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) MENA senior editor at the time of the attack, says that OCCRP’s work was one of the reasons behind the targeting.

In addition, the Moroccan regime targeted investigative journalist Omar Radi with Pegasus spyware. Radi had been working on an in-depth project documenting dozens of land expropriation operations over the past 30 years.

According to Lara Bitar of The Public Source, criminal defamation laws in Lebanon are frequently weaponized to intimidate and harass journalists and dissidents. “For small publications like ours, fighting these lawsuits is a significant drain on our limited resources and can effectively prevent us from doing our work,” she explains.

Recently, the chairman of a Lebanese bank filed legal complaints against Daraj Media for their investigations into the banking system in Lebanon. “The lawsuits, just like the huge media campaign, are meant to demonize us and to distract public opinion. The amount of energy and resources spent on those campaigns is by itself the best proof of the impact of our work,” says the site’s co-founder Alia Ibrahim.

 

Collaboration + Planning

Vigilant and deep planning, along with international collaboration, have been key to approaching powerful investigations in the region. BBC Eye Arabic investigations have produced high-impact reports, including one that exposed how some luxury perfume brands — manufactured by two major beauty companies — were using ingredients picked by children from rural villages in Egypt. Another revealed how extremist settlers have been establishing a new type of illegal settlement in the West Bank.

“We plan for order, prepare for chaos. That’s the approach,” says Mustafa Khalili. “We apply that to every story and deployment, working closely with our high-risk team. Detailed risk assessments are drafted with as many mitigations put in place as possible. Things sometimes do go wrong, but we learn, build on those mistakes, and prepare so they don’t happen again.”

In Tunisia, Malek Khadhraoui, the director and publisher of Inkyfada, which has collaborated with cross-border organizations such as OCCRP and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), emphasizes that working with international watchdog networks enables MENA journalists to tackle complex issues like corruption, human rights abuses, and organized crime. “This is critical for uncovering financial crimes and corruption that require sophisticated data analysis, making investigative journalism a vital tool for transparency and accountability in the region,” he adds.

 

 

Investigative Journalism in MENA: Struggling Against Tyranny, Fighting to Survive