Majdoleen Hasan

Investigative journalism in the Arab world is in deep crisis. The survival of reporters focused on accountability is uncertain. The costs of this work are high. Freedoms are declining, and independent media face systematic attacks. Countries like Tunisia, once thought open to journalism, are now actively hostile to independent media. In Gaza, over 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel amid ongoing violence.

It can be extremely challenging and perilous to work in investigative journalism in a region ravaged by war, where unpredictability, widespread destruction, and tragic loss of life are constants. In December 2023, when GIJN Arabic released its previous Editor’s Picks list, the MENA region had just passed two months since Hamas’ October 7 incursion into Israel and that country’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.

A recent blockbuster investigation by the Guardian exposed how Meta’s major social platforms, Facebook and Instagram, have been used as a marketplace for child grooming and sex trafficking. The story, from journalists Katie McQue and Mei-Ling McNamara, revealed the hidden exploitation of minors, mostly from black communities, who are lured by child sex traffickers prowling online into selling themselves for sex.