Launching the Arabic Journalism Observatory

The network of the European Journalism Observatory (EJO) is expanding into the Arab world. Together with the Media Development Centre (MDC) in Tunisia, the EJO has created an Arabic Journalism Observatory (AJO – www.ajo-ar.org). With a focus on Arabic countries, the AJO will provide news about journalism and media research, press freedom and media accountability, trends in journalism and the media industry. The AJO website will be in Arabic – and soon also in French.

AJO is directed by Abdelkrim Hizaoui, a professor of  the Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information (IPSI) and the  former director of the Centre Africain de Perfectionnement des Journalistes et des Communicateurs (CAPJC) in Tunis.

Professor Hizaoui hopes to give Arab media researchers and media professionals a forum to present their research and exchange experiences at a time of political transition in the region, triggered by the “Arab Spring”.

The AJO website will be edited by Nouha Belaid, a PhD candidate at IPSI, blogger and digital media lecturer.

The AJO joins the network of the European Journalism Observatory which is made up of 13 universities and research institutions in Europe and one in the United States. The EJO network aims to provide better access to research into journalism and digital disruption in the media industries and to improve the exchange between journalism cultures across language barriers.

Developed in close cooperation with the EJO at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) in Lugano, Switzerland, the AJO is part of a project to build relationships between Switzerland and the countries North and South of the Mediterranean Sea. This goal revitalises the intentions and objectives that led to the creation of the Laboratory of Mediterranean Studies at USI.
AJO is supported by the Fondazione Fidinam, Lugano.