Sahafet Welad Al-Balad Media Services, an initiative designed to encourage local journalism, celebrated two years since its launch at the Press Syndicate in Cairo last week. The project is based on youth work from different governorates, and at the event there was a showing of the film Wasalni Al-Khabar (I got the news) that reviews the initiative's work over the last two years. Certificates were also presented to the first generation of young journalists taking part in the project, along with certificates in journalistic excellence in different fields. Fatemah Farag, founder and director of Sahafet Welad Al-Balad, said that the inititave was designed to support and develop community journalism outside Cairo. According to Farag, the project had started with four publications produced from Alexandria to Deshna in Upper Egypt and now had 10 publications produced from Marsa Matrouh to Luxor. The idea was to produce more, pending receipt of applications from other governorates. The publications are produced by the some 100 journalists trained by the project who are employed and resident in the different governorates. Farag added that the project had also trained more than 1,000 mass communication students in seven universities in the governorates within the citizen journalism initiative. Weekly print versions of the publications and a daily online Website that covers all the governorates are available, the latter in partnership with Masrawy.com and YouTube. All the publications are in Arabic, except for the last page of the Luxor paper which is directed at foreigners. Farag said that in starting the project she had been inspired by an interest in what was happening outside Cairo, especially since during her 20 years as a journalist she had travelled extensively outside the city. The 25 January Revolution had made people think differently and challenge the mainstream, she said, adding that in a country with a large population and a lack of local journalism many people were effectively voiceless and without a place on the media map. In Farag's view there has been no independent, professional local press over the past 40 years, with community journalism before the 25 January Revolution often being associated with the former ruling party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), or associated with local government, or being published during election seasons to help candidates get elected to the People's Assembly. Abeer Al-Adawi, 30, editor-in-chief of the Al-Sawifa newspaper, one of Welad Al-Balad's publications, said that she had been a regional journalist for eight years before joining the initiative. Welad Al-Balad had given her different perspectives on local journalism and she had learned new ways of reporting, she said. According to Al-Adawi, video reporting was new in local journalism and Facebook could be used on a regular basis to host filmed reportage, along with the Website of Welad Al-Balad. She praised the initiative, saying that it was a privilege working in community journalism with an umbrella organisation that provided the necessary training and expertise. “Welad Al-Balad allowed us to attend training with other establishments, and we discovered that we had reached professional standards. It was just the regions that were being neglected,” she said. Now formerly marginalised regions of the country were being covered and making it onto the news agenda, she said. Comparing journalists covering local issues but living in the capital to journalists resident in local areas, Al-Adawi said that journalists from the capital were unlikely to have the same insights as local ones. Those living in the regions will reach events faster and know more about people's preoccupations, she said. Abu Al-Maaref Al-Hefnawi, 29, online director for the Qena governorate and responsible for the online pages of five publications from Qena, won the best social networks prize. Qena is also the only governorate with five publications. Al-Hefnawi said that he had long been a citizen journalist, and when he was pointed in the direction of Welad Al-Balad he was pleased to join the network. When he started with Welad Al-Balad, Al-Hefnawi said, many people had thought that the news appearing on local sites could not reach national attention. However, the opposite had been shown to be the case, and today officials often sought out local journalists to keep them abreast of local issues rather than central ones. As a result, local journalists had been able to gain credibility and take part in development, helping to shape public opinion. Despite its successes, the project has not been free of challenges, however. According to Farag, the changes that have occurred over the past three years have made it harder for startups trying to develop themselves. The political polarisation that has been seen in the country since last year's 30 June Revolution has also affected startups, notably because of the violence that has been seen in the streets. Other challenges have included the need to seek resources and to have an independent source of revenue, allowing the project to be editorially independent. The writer is a freelance journalist.
