April 30, 2025
ARIJ, represented by its Director General Rawan Damen and AFCN Manager Saja Mortada, participated in the third edition of the “Mediterranean agora for journalism” 2025, organized by the French association “Journalism & Citizenship” (J&C) with the support of the European Union, from April 28-30, 2025, in Marseille, France.
The forum, which hosted over 300 journalists, fact-checkers, and representatives of Arab, French, and African media organizations, included several sessions and workshops focused on the challenges of journalism in Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon, and Syria, in addition to journalism and artificial intelligence, investigative journalism, fact-checking, and journalism in exile.
On April 28, Damen and Mortada participated in the closed meeting “Sahafa Med, which brought together Arab and French media organizations with European donors, in cooperation with the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), to discuss the sustainability of independent media in the Arab world in light of the current funding crisis. ARIJ Director General presented an overview that included an assessment of the reality of these organizations and recommendations to ensure sustainability in the future.
On the first day of the forum, April 29, AFCN Manager Saja Mortada, moderated a main panel entitled “AI & Journalism: Mediterranean Media’s Shared Challenge“, during which Abdel Latif El Hajj Mohamed, an independent investigative journalist and expert in journalism and AI, Kati Kati Bremme, Director of Innovation at France TV, and Karim Messadi, founder of LLMWave, shared their experiences with AI in their organizations and the challenges they face in integrating it.
The AFCN Manager also spoke in another session entitled “How to protect yourself against fake news?”, about the role of the network and the services it provides to journalists, media organizations, fact-checkers, fact-checking organizations, media colleges, professors and students, as well as the general public, in combating disinformation in the Arab region. Also speaking at the session were Mohammed Ahmed, founder of the “Nawerni” fact-checking initiative from Libya, Valdez Onanina, editor-in-chief of the Africa Check Francophone, and Moath Al-Thaher, director of the “Tabbayano” platform in Jordan. The session was moderated by Mohamed Zeidan, an investigative journalist from Egypt.
On the same day, the ARIJ Director General, Rawan Damen, moderated a session entitled “Promoting Investigative Journalism in Africa and the MENA Region“, during which Mohamed Bassiki, founder of “Siraj” investigative platform, Sana Sbouai, an investigative journalist at OCCRP, Frédéric Métézeau, editor-in-chief of Forbidden Stories, and Martial Indandou, journalist and editor-in-chief of “Echos du Nord“, discussed the challenges of investigative work in the region and examples of investigations that have had a recent impact on the ground.
During the two days of the forum, ARIJ, represented by Damen and Mortada, also presented the 18th ARIJ Annual Forum under the theme “Rise to Challenge” in Amman, Jordan, between 5 and 7 December 2025, and the AFCN Fact-Checking Chatbot, in addition to the goals, work, and services of ARIJ and AFCN, in a special booth. The booth was visited by many journalists from the Arab world, France, and Europe to learn more about our work.
Now | Last few minutes at ARIJ Booth – our director general @RawanDamen & our @ArabFCNetwork manager @MortadaSaja interacted with all @LesAssises for 2 full days. pic.twitter.com/jTBpNFez6X
— Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (@ARIJNetwork) April 30, 2025
At the conclusion of the last day of the forum, April 30, the Director General of ARIJ, Rawan Damen, spoke at the main closing event, attended by more than 200 people, entitled “Closing event – Gaza, Reporting Against All Odds” about the “Gaza Project” and ARIJ’s support for journalists and fact-checkers in Gaza throughout the war on it, in addition to the need for support and raising voices against the genocide committed by Israel since October 7, 2023.
Also speaking in the evening were Frédéric Métézeau, editor-in-chief of Forbidden Stories, Madjid Zerrouky, senior correspondent for Le Monde, and Islam Idhair, a French-speaking journalist from Gaza. The session was moderated by Omar Ouahmane, senior correspondent for Radio France.
The three days of the forum provided an opportunity for ARIJ to meet with many partners, donors, and journalists, and to discuss the common journalistic challenges and opportunities between the two shores of the Mediterranean, especially during the crises and wars that are sweeping the Arab region, and the targeting of journalists and independent journalistic work.
