Routes and Frontlines
Marhaba,
This is the 53rd issue of Atar English, published by the Sudan Facts Center for Journalism. It reaches you every two weeks, bringing reporting from across Sudan.
This issue planned, developed and written by the fifth cohort of the Sudan Facts Fellowship.
We launched the fellowship programme in 2020 as an attempt to test the ground for the revival of professional, accountable journalism in Sudan. The programme came in the aftermath of the fall of Omar al-Bashir’s regime, which for decades worked to suppress freedoms and opportunities, tightening its grip on the flow of information and manipulating public opinion over the course of thirty years.
Our return from authoritarianism to a freer public sphere has been long and exhausting. One of the defining traits of authoritarian systems is that even when freedoms become available, societies often struggle to fully exercise them. The former regime built a political model based on a single narrative and managed disagreements through manipulation rather than open debate, dialogue and competition.
From the beginning, our goal was twofold: to create opportunities for young journalists at the start of their careers, and to contribute to the development of organized, professional and impactful journalism. We believe there is an urgent need for journalists who carry both the ethical values of journalism and the professional tools required to practice it creatively and responsibly, journalists capable of identifying the stories society truly needs and finding meaningful ways to engage with them.
At Atar Network, we believe journalism is not built on speed alone, but on research, investigation and continuous verification. We seek to strengthen a form of journalism grounded in reality, one that understands the complexity of society and stays close to people and their everyday concerns, away from simplification, propaganda and polarization.
This vision aligns with the core role of journalism, and the need for it has only grown since the outbreak of war. The conflict has been accompanied by local and regional propaganda that flooded the public sphere with misinformation and falsehoods, deepening the war both on the ground and in the media landscape.
For that reason, journalism rooted in research, investigation and verification has become essential to understanding the profound transformations Sudan is going through today. It is also necessary for producing accurate and reliable knowledge that helps society see beyond noise and manipulation, which is what we continue to develop through training, experimentation and sustained fieldwork.
Over the years, the fellowship programme has benefited from the contribution of many lecturers, mentors and specialists from different fields who generously shared their experience and knowledge with participants taking their first professional steps in journalism. Their guidance helped shape a deeper understanding of economic, social and political issues within a constantly changing context.
Like Fellowship Issue No. 50, produced by the third and fourth cohorts and published on October 17, 2024, we see this issue as a clear reflection of the programme’s impact. This can be seen in the selection of stories, the issues covered and the way they are presented. Each fellow had the opportunity to combine their own skills, experiences and interests throughout both the reporting and production process.
Today, after five fellowship cycles that have directly benefited more than 40 fellows, we are taking steps toward establishing a journalism academy, which we hope will become the first educational institution in Sudan focused on practical training for those seeking to pursue professional journalism. We hope this institution will offer an innovative learning experience in the field.
This fellowship cohort included 10 journalists from five Sudanese states: Red Sea, River Nile, Al-Gadarif, Kassala and South Darfur. During the programme, they organized discussion forums whose outcomes are presented in the Arabic version of the magazine issue. Together, they selected five topics affecting their communities and discussed them with small focus groups of 10 to 15 participants.
The issues ranged from school dropout in River Nile State, to Al-Gadarif’s chronic water crisis, to the transformation of small businesses in Port Sudan and how the city has changed under the pressures of war, new economic activity and central government decisions affecting the vital port sector. The discussions also explored education challenges in South Darfur and the crisis of work and migration among young people in Kassala.
These are stories shaped by close engagement with local realities and by a deep understanding of what local journalism means and why it matters, especially during a war that has disrupted the basic foundations of social life.
Finally, it is important for us at Atar Network and Sudan Facts Center for Journalism to say how proud we are of this fellowship cohort. They showed serious commitment throughout the programme, approached the work with creativity and initiative, and collaborated effectively within a diverse team of different backgrounds and interests. Working alongside Atar’s editorial team and correspondents, they produced original and important reporting that added genuine value to the network’s coverage.
Atar Editorial Team
