Eight Years on... Raseef22 Is Still Looking For a Better Tomorrow

On the eve of our 9th year, and on behalf of the entire Raseef22 team, we thank every reader that has visited our site, read our articles, interacted with them, and shared them.

We thank everyone who has supported our journey. We have championed social justice, democracy and citizenship in a region that has been ravaged and burdened by the calamities of failure, corruption, and oppression.

During our 8th year, we recorded 23 million page views, 42% of which were readers under the age of 34, and 41% were women.

79% of our readers were from Arabic-speaking countries — led by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Morocco — despite the block imposed on our pages in the first two countries. The remainder of our readers hail from 205 countries, the first of which is the United States, followed by Germany.

On Facebook, our posts have had an organic reach of 20 million, and on Twitter, we achieved 110 million impressions. Our biggest success this year has been on Instagram, where our account crossed the 200,000 mark in daily interactions.

During our 8th year, we recorded 23 million page views, 42% of which were readers under the age of 34, and 41% were women. 79% of our readers were from Arabic-speaking countries — led by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Morocco — despite the block imposed on our pages in the first two countries

By the start of 2021, we had published our 10,000th article, and throughout our 8th year, we released 110 podcast episodes, with a reach of 330,000 people in over 160 countries. We recently added a section in Farsi, as well as a Creative Writing section.

We are a team of 28 journalists, supported by more than 150 freelance journalists. We publish 18 stories per day, ensuring Raseef22 remains the premier destination and a safe space for the exchange of news, ideas and experiences.

Our 8th year was particularly challenging. In addition to the standard challenges faced by journalists and the outbreak of Coronavirus, the Beirut Port blast and the financial collapse presented unprecedented hurdles.

Across the region, we witnessed an array of violations on public and personal rights, all in the name of the “national interest”, which our dictators define as suits them. The Pegasus scandal exposed wiretapping and surveillance on journalists via Israeli software, marking yet another violation of our rights and citizenship.

Despite the challenges, we persist. Rather, these difficulties are the reason for our commitment to carry on. Raseef22 has made the decision not to limit its pages to those who can afford a subscription. This would not have been possible without the generous support of our readers, who supported us with donations of $101,508 dollars in tour eighth year. These readers contribute to bringing much needed change to the region.

Our work would also not have been possible without institutional donors supporting independent journalism, donors who unconditionally support the Arab people. We are grateful to the Program on Independent Journalism at Open Society Foundation, the Google News Initiative, CFI, the French Media Development Agency, Thomson Reuters Foundation, SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the International Center for Journalists, Facebook, the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE), International Republican Institute and others.

Over the course of eight years, we have accomplished a great deal. We are most proud of the steadfast values we have maintained since our launch.

We have formed republishing partnerships with three European publishers syndicating our stories, we published a first investigative joint production with Daraj Media, and agreed a joint publishing partnership with Muwatin. We have also entered an agreement with an American AI company for Arabic language learning.

Over the course of eight years, we have accomplished a great deal. We are most proud of the steadfast values we have maintained since our launch.

We are still an unfinished project, as there is much that we want to achieve: an increased number of investigations, in-depth reports, video and documentary production, and going local in select countries.

Finally, we ask you to support us (via credit card or PayPal ) in our quest to make Raseef22 sustainable, so that our content remains accessible to Arab youth across the globe. All your contributions benefit our journalists, young men and women who challenge and defy danger and risk on a daily basis in order to tell our stories.

Support independent Arab media. You can make a difference in the life of the coming generations.