The Activism-Journalism Nexus: Alternative media organisations and the re-invigoration of watchdog journalism in the Arab World

In April 2016 the online media outfit, Inkyfada, became a household name in Tunisia after publishing a series of investigative reports based on the Panama Papers. The media outfit, only established in 2014, was the only Tunisian partner in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism which investigated the well-known Swiss Leaks and Panama Papers. Inkyfada is but one example of a new generation of media outfits established by dissident journalists and activists across the MENA region in the aftermath of the Arab spring protests in 2011. This article aims to explore the conditions of their emergence and the importance placed on their watchdog role in shaping their journalistic practice.
The disruption of the political order in the MENA region following the 2011 uprising was keenly felt in the field of media beyond the immediate and intense mediatization of the protests. Activists, dissidents and journalists filled up spaces vacated (even if temporarily) by the retreating state and private media of the ancien regime. Today, almost a decade on from the tumultuous months of 2011, outfits like Inkyfada (Tunisia), Mada Masr (Egypt), SyriaUntold and Siraj (Syria), are persisting in their mission despite the continued upheaval and authoritarian retrenchment across the region. Politically-engaged and led by activists and dissident journalists, they privilege a mode of watchdog journalism in their content and have given a new impetus and prestige to investigative journalistic work across the region.
This paper argues, based on qualitative interviews with the media actors, that the specific opportunity structure that opened up after the Arab Spring was instrumental in sustaining these outfits and in allowing them to thrive thus far. The influx of media development aid channeled to the region in the immediate aftermath of the uprisings allowed such actors to break with established media outfits in their regions and to establish new self- managed institutional settings that were more oriented towards watchdog journalistic practice. Such a mode of journalism was also most compatible with the politically-driven and politically-active practice of these journalists. Furthermore, a move away from “dissident journalism” modes towards watchdog journalism was aided by the capacity building and training efforts associated with media development practices and its link to the dominant paradigm of good governance (Manyozo, 2012). The confluence of these different conditions allowed a culture of watchdog journalism to germinate more easily among these new media outfits, circumventing many of the obstacles that blighted earlier efforts (see for example Bebawi, 2016).
Finally, the paper argues that the Arab Spring, in its disruption of the establishments’ power in the MENA region was instrumental in this process. Indeed, the sudden collapse of statist logics at the hands of popular mobilization represented a condition of possibility for the emergence of such new actors.

References
• Bebawi, S. (2016). Investigative Journalism in the Arab World - Issues and Challenges. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
• Manyozo, L. (2012). Media, Communication and Development: Three Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.