ARIJ joins elected board of Global Investigative Journalism Network

AMMAN — Rana Sabbagh, the executive director of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), has won a seat on the first board of directors of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) with the highest total votes. 

A career journalist and former chief editor of The Jordan Times, Sabbagh won 49 votes from 66 nonprofit investigative journalism organisations which took part in the week-long electronic vote that ended on June 16, according to GIJN Executive Director David Kaplan. Sabbagh currently heads the Amman-based media support network ARIJ, which promotes investigative journalism among journalists, editors, students and media professors in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq and Tunisia. 

“Our highest vote total went to Rana Sabbagh, the life-long executive director of ARIJ,” Kaplan said during an international luncheon at the sidelines of the annual conference of investigative reporters and editors in San Francisco, California, according to an ARIJ statement issued Sunday. 

“This is a tribute to Rana’s years of hard work and spreading world-class investigative journalism across the Middle East and North Africa,” he added. “Our membership around the world has recognised how much important work Rana has achieved.” 

Created in 2003 during the second global gathering of the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Copenhagen, the GIJN currently consists of more than 90 member organisations across 44 countries. 

Its affiliate organisations, represented by six board members — one from each geographical region, produce stories, conduct training, provide resources and encourage the creation of similar nonprofit groups. 

Sabbagh will sit on the GIJN board as the representative for the Middle East and North Africa for a period of one year, the statement said.