Ending a project that “is close to our heart”

With a heavy heart, I published the last article for The Niles website on Thursday, April 27. Titled “Death: Burying seeds for the next season,” it’s a message of hope reflecting our wish that the seeds we have sown through The Niles over the past seven years will mature.

Given the momentous changes and challenges facing Sudan and South Sudan, quality journalism is crucial. Supporting journalists is a vital tool to strengthen flagging media freedoms in both countries. 

The Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2017, published on April 26, shows that sound journalism practices are severely endangered in both Sudan and South Sudan. The international media watchdog ranked South Sudan at 145th place out of 180 countries, while Sudan trailed at 174th, making it the seventh worst country in the world to work as a reporter.

In light of the humanitarian catastrophe over the past few years in South Sudan and parts of Sudan, as well as the shocking lack of press freedom in both countries, it is extremely difficult to see the publication of The Niles come to an end at this time. 

But the dire need for quality journalism from these two countries is not the only reason. For nearly 100 reporters in the field and the editorial team, the publication has become much more than a project over the years. The Niles has long since become a family, and breaking up this family is heartbreaking.

We are a close-knit network of journalists in Sudan and South Sudan, a living example of how different groups and nationalities can work together successfully and form strong bonds based on mutual trust, while striving for excellence. 

“The Niles is a project that is close to our hearts because it has been extremely successful in the past,” said David Schwake, the former German Ambassador to South Sudan, when our team printed and distributed the paper in Juba in 2014. “The publication is quite impressive.” 

Indeed, The Niles has earned a unique reputation for its brand of balanced approach in reporting the complex realities in Sudan and South Sudan. 

“The Niles is pioneering, presenting remarkable journalistic pieces,” said Ahmad Younes, a correspondent for the international Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharg al-Awsat.  

Talal Afifi, founder of the Sudan Film Factory, praised the project “because it transfers important skills for expression […] which helps journalists and expands their independence”. 

He expressed his enthusiasm for The Niles as a concept and lauded its coverage. “It is a distinguished idea; the editing, the design, the translation are all excellent. The choice of themes and topics of every issue is outstanding,” he said. 

In 2014, The Niles print series was displayed at the prestigious German media prize LEAD awards held at Hamburg’s Deichtorhallen and received an honorable mention. Articles from The Niles have been featured by The Guardian Africa Network and other leading international media outlets. 

In 2015, The Niles newspaper issue on migration was put on permanent display at the Library of Alexandria. Through a cooperation with David Chipperfield Architects, The Niles produced a series of portraits focusing on the archaeological sites of Naga. The portraits were shown at the 2016 Architecture Biennale in Venice. 

Many of the correspondents trained by The Niles moved on to work with international news outlets such as AFP and The Guardian Africa Network, or continued their graduate studies in prestigious universities. Others started their own media projects in Sudan and South Sudan. 

The Niles’ audiences come from both Sudan and South Sudan, as well as countries with large Sudanese and South Sudanese diaspora communities. Analytics showed that The Niles is especially popular with readers who deal with both Sudans professionally, including governmental and parliamentary institutions, NGOs, UN agencies, academics and think tanks. 

The Niles was also well known to wider audiences through the distribution of its print issues in both Sudan and South Sudan and readers around the world. In Germany, The Niles has enjoyed favourable coverage by leading media outlets such as FAZ, taz, Die Welt, Berliner Zeitung, Tagesspiegel, Deutschlandradio Kultur, SWR2, Flux FM and ARTE Future.  

The Niles differed from programmes run by other organisations for three main reasons:

• rather than offering occasional workshops, participating journalists benefited from continuous coaching; 
• the combination of workshops and online coaching fostered sustainable results;
• capacity building continued in concert with the production and dissemination of high-quality journalism, both locally and internationally.

Moreover, there were substantial differences with regard to primary target groups. Whereas BBC Media Action, Fondation Hirondelle, Free Press Unlimited and Internews all focus most of their activities on radio journalism, The Niles offered mainly print and online reporting. The Niles has held a unique position as the only platform in print and online in Arabic and English. This bilingual approach crossed language barriers which have traditionally hindered dialogue between the two countries.

“We need to continue now more than before,” said Mohamed Hilali, a Khartoum-based correspondent for The Niles. 

Since its beginning, the project enjoyed financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office. This funding has allowed countless reporters from Sudan and South Sudan to sharpen their skills and to widen their horizons. Unfortunately, the funding was discontinued this year. This is particularly disheartening in light of the deteriorating media situation in Sudan, South Sudan, and many countries across the globe.

“I’m really sorry to hear that [The Niles is no longer funded], said James Copnall, a BBC Africa editor and author of ‘A Poisonous Thorn in our Hearts: Sudan and South Sudan’s Bitter and Incomplete Divorce’. “I hope it comes through, he added. “The Niles’ reporting is more needed than ever.”

I would like to personally thank my colleagues at Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT) for launching The Niles in 2009 (then known as Sudanvotes) and also for their continuous administrative support over the past seven years, allowing the editors and contributors to focus on content. Our attempts to secure funding for The Niles 2017 have unfortunately failed so far. But we have not given up, and we sincerely hope that one day soon, we will be able to resume serving our readers with compelling new stories.

I’d like to thank our journalists, our readers and our donors once more, with profound hopes that the seeds of The Niles will continue to sprout and flourish.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT) gGmbH, or any other The Niles editor. MiCT has neither approved nor endorsed this post.