IPI’s Local News & Innovation Network hosted a virtual newsroom visit to The Public Source, the independent, Beirut-based publication that focuses on structural inequities, and on the rights of poor and dispossessed communities across Lebanon.
The Public Source involves a wide range of contributors, including journalists, organizers, activists and academics, in their journalism. It also hosts a secure whistleblower platform and runs an ongoing investigative series about the drivers and impacts of inequality.
During this newsroom visit, The Public Source team spoke about how they generate impact by telling human stories, sustain their work and retain independence in the Lebanese media landscape, which is heavily influenced by the political priorities of the ruling parties.
Topics covered in the visit:
- The launch of The Public Source amid the unprecedented economic and financial crisis in Lebabon.
- What does The Public Source’s donor-dependent revenue model look like, and what are their plans for diversifying their revenue streams?
- What is the primary value of The Public Source’s in-depth investigative reporting?
At the newsroom visited we heard from:
- Lara Bitar, founding editor
- Annia Ciezadlo, investigations editor
- Christina Cavalcanti, journalist
This is the second of our latest round of newsroom visits, which offer media innovators a chance to get an inside look at how their peers around the world are managed, and to forge lasting relationships across countries, regions and continents. Newsroom visits are organized as part of IPI’s Local News & Innovation Network, which also hosts a Slack community for peer-to-peer discussion – find out more here.
IPI’s virtual newsroom visits are made possible by support from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF).
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