text: Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/election-of-board-for-gijn-2014/rana-sabbagh/)
  Being on the board of GIJN for a second time will reflect positively on enhancing investigative journalism in the Arab world, the core mission of ARIJ since its creation in 2005 and operating in nine states: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Palestine and Iraq.
  Being on board this inspiring network will provide ARIJ and its 1400 members global 'moral, institutional and professional" backing at a time of growing media and free-speech muzzling across the region following a window of hope triggered by the so-called "Arab Spring" in 2011.
  By networking with amazing professional colleagues and having access to global professional networks, we are able to share challenges and prospects, learn from others' lessons, and ensure ever-needed global support/solidarity for ARIJ-supported journalists producing edge-cutting print and multimedia investigations, against political, professional, societal and legal odds.
  What ARIJ is doing often seems like pushing a donkey cart filled with stones up a steep hill: The minute you let go it will roll back.
  It is a near impossible mission. But the good news is that so many brilliant, committed, hard-working and brave journalist that have worked with ARIJ and have used facts and figures as evidence in their investigations, have become role models for other peers and are regaining the long-lost respect to the role of the "fourth estate" — they are no longer officials' lapdogs but society's watchdogs.
  And they are building a credible movement that in ten years from now will be labeled the IRE of the Arab world.
  In a world which has become a village, thanks to globalization and the advent of the internet and social media, the presence of a female journalist from the largely patriarchal Arab world on the board of directors of GJIC will improve cultural sensitivities.
  As founder and executive director of ARIJ since 2005, my role has been to help Arab journalists raise professional standards, comparable to those in the West and to assist them in fighting for their rights and negotiating the minefield of state censorship and lack of support from media owners and editors. All investigations we have published/broadcast have been miracles given the difficulty in accessing information, even on the most basic issues. Society in the Arab region is largely conservative and male-dominated does not yet have the maturity to look at its problems and try to come to terms with the reality
  In fulfilling this mission, I travel widely in the region, organize workshops on a regular basis in the nine countries where ARIJ operates, coach colleagues and offer on the job mentoring and editing. I regularly write and campaign against censorship, media polarization and intimidation from the state, non-state players and editors.
  The NGO has been mainly supported by the governments of Norway, Sweden and Denmark – as well as the Open Society Foundations.
  Serving ARIJEANS has been so rewarding and meaningful. Serving the mission of GIJN and its members is equally rewarding.