Established in 2022, The New Arab (TNA) Investigative Unit digs into impactful international stories that originate from the MENA/SWANA region and its diasporas.
Themes include, but are not limited to, corporate and governmental corruption, human and animal rights, environmental damage, organised crime, technological surveillance, arms trade and lobbying.
Contributors are expected to articulate a clear-cut hypothesis and explain how they would corroborate it. Besides being involved in the fact-checking process, the Investigative Unit provides different kinds of support for the development of these projects:
- Access to region and country-specific databases (litigation, company registers, etc.)
- Ad-hoc purchase of high-resolution satellite imagery
- Remuneration for preliminary research that is necessary to structure hypotheses, in addition to remuneration for approved projects, and coverage of expenses
- Support in filing Freedom of Information Requests in the UK, EU, US as well as MENA/SWANA countries
- Support with OSINT investigative work
- Support in creating visual complements such as infographics, graphs, illustrations, etc.
- Legal reviews
- Risk assessments
- Coverage of fees when applying for awards
- Promotion and outreach
If you wish to pitch ideas for long-form investigations, please fill in the related forms (available below in English and Arabic), and send them to Head of Investigative Unit Andrea Glioti (andrea.glioti@newarab.com).
For sensitive leads, encryption is strongly recommended, using the following email address: thenewarab@tutanota.com.
In addition to long-form output, The New Arab Investigative Unit also produces shorter 'Fact Check' articles that seek to verify the accuracy of news reports.
Lastly, under the public interest-driven category 'For the Record', we publish inconclusive evidence that can inform future investigative efforts.