Syria Direct or Syria:direct ( ar, سوريا على طول), founded in 2013, is an independent news organization based in
Amman
Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...
, Jordan, that provides news coverage on Syria's war and politics, and trains journalists.
They have been funded by an American organization, the Global Peace and Development (GPD) Charitable Trust, as well as by the
US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
and several embassies in Amman.
[‘I wanted to show the truth’: Syria Direct trainees reflect as 10th cohort of journalists graduates](_blank)
2018-04-16.
Online news
''Syria Direct'' is published in English and Arabic. The articles are for readers who are already knowledgeable about Syria but want more detailed information.
''Syria Direct'' employs a small team of Syrian and international reporters who talk to Syrian activists and civilians on both sides of the conflict every day by
Skype
Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
. Syrian journalists write the stories in Arabic. The stories are translated to English, fact-checked and edited, then translated back to Arabic. Their website receives about 50,000 page views every month. Their
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page has 77,000 followers.
Thousands of people follow their Twitter account.
Journalism training
''Syria Direct'' also has a training program for journalists from Syria. In the past, the training program has received funding from the US Embassy Amman's Public Affairs Section, the Syria-Iraq office of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung organization, and the Canadian Embassy in Amman.
Every six months they train twelve new Syrian journalists. The trainees' stories have been published in
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
.com,
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
, and international new organizations like
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
and
The Toronto Globe and Mail.
Syria Direct had, as of September 2016, trained 70 journalists, some of whom have since started their own news organizations.
By April 2018, this number had risen to 150 journalists from 10 cohorts, made possible by a grant from the US State Department.
References
External links
Syria Direct website*
{{news-website-stub
Organizations established in 2013
Jordanian journalism organisations