Traditionally speaking, journalists have been expected to abstain from business, enforcing a so-called wall separating newsrooms from the business side of media companies. Yet, times are changing, and the wall has become porous after the Internet wreaked havoc on the news market, forcing news outlets to reconsider business structures. With journalists in abundance and few jobs available, trial and error has become a must for media companies and self-branding an important challenge for journalists. Europe is not exempt from this trend. In the Arab world, the situation is getting more difficult, as media has become part of the post “Arab Spring” political polarization and editors are more and more listening to the master’s voice at the expense of editorial independence and a disgruntled team. Censorship is the name of the game in every newsroom. The availability of long-term job contracts is decreasing, pressure from editors is increasing and the economic model of traditional media businesses is collapsing. Hence, journalists find it necessary to reinvent new aspects of journalism, placing more emphasis on self-promotion. In this session, we look at four pioneering initiatives toward promoting entrepreneurial journalism: David Schraven, Publisher, from Correctiv, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in the German-speaking world working to give citizens access to information and relying on charitable endowments and readership funding; and Lina Attalah, Chief Editor with MadaMasr, a Cairo-based news website that attempts to secure a house for a dislocated practice of journalism that did not survive in mainstream organizations due to their political and economic conditions; Lina Ejeilat, executive editor of 7iber.com, a website that produces in depth data journalism on topics that range from environment, gender, social justice and media freedoms and Chayma Mehdi, IT Lab Director, at the Tunis based Inkyfada website. Meet these colleagues at the intersection of entrepreneurial journalism and how to help empower journalists working in the service of the public.  

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