We are a group of journalists, academics, social activists and former diplomats ; and because the Levant is close to our hearts we wish to contribute to a better understanding of that region, so close to us in Europe and yet with such a distorted and incomplete image in our media.

Using our own resources and with contributions from a wide range of horizons, inside our borders and beyond, we hope to offer a rich and diversified approach to that part of the world in a state of radical upheaval and whose future concerns us all.

Meeting together for the first time in Marseilles in May 2016, eight independent media specialising in the Arab world drew up plans for regional co-operation. To this end they set up a network with the intention of collaborating on major topics and sharing their skills in order to deal with the challenges they have to face. Solidarity is this network’s guiding principle.

Most of the media belonging to this network are based in the Middle East or North Africa and each must cope with economic or political difficulties specific to its own country. Freedom of the press in that part of the world is constantly on the decline. In spite of an environment studded with obstacles, these media, most of which came into being after the 2011 Arab revolutions, have chosen the political and financial independence of the on-line press, free and accessible to all, with a progressive editorial policy.

In order to contribute to the development of these media, to their longevity and the organisation of a transnational reticular space, OrientXXI is taking part in this cooperative venture. Within this framework, and on the occasion of numerous Paris meetings, the members of the network have been able to implement various activities : shared thematic publications, journalist-in-residence programmes and training sessions.