Syria Tomorrow is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories realted to Syria crisis, stories with “moral force.” We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on the Civil War issues and destruction leading to a massive refugees waves from Syria
Investigative journalism about Syria is at risk. Many news organizations have increasingly come to the conclusion of bias opinions based on the political influence they are exposed to. New models are, therefore, necessary to carry forward some of the great work of journalism in the public interest that is such an integral part of self-government, and thus an important bulwark of our democracy we are trying to promote peacefully.
Syria Tomorrow was founded by Ameer Kabour, a Cardiologist and active Syrian in the United States of America, who is also involved in many other non profit organizations. His vision to promote changes in the Middle East by education, knowledge, and by supporting peaceful resolution to any conflicts in the world.
Syria Tomorrow is headquartered in California. Its establishment was announced in February 2012. Operations commenced in April 2012.
Why Now?
It is true that the number and variety of publishing platforms are exploding in the Internet age. But very few of these entities are engaged in a non biased or independent voice about the Syrian Crisis, without any external influences. In short, we face a situation in which sources of opinion are proliferating, but sources of facts on which those opinions are based are shrinking. Also Syria Tomorrow is promoting original articles by some of the independent Syrian Thinker, to motivate the Syrian toward a better judgem,ent and balanced opinions about the current conflict they liveing.
More than any other journalistic form, investigative journalism can require a great deal of time and labor to do well—and because the “prospecting” necessary for such stories inevitably yields a substantial number of “dry holes,” i.e. stories that seem promising at first, but ultimately prove either less interesting or important than first thought, or even simply untrue and thus unpublishable.
Syria Tomorrow now is needed more than any other time, because of the devastaion reaching the maximum, the killing with no stop, the destruction with no mercy, the International participation directly or indirectly in causing the worse human tragedy ever.
What We Do
In the best traditions of American journalism in the public service, we seek to stimulate positive change. We uncover unsavory practices in order to stimulate reform. We do this in an entirely non-partisan and non-ideological manner, adhering to the strictest standards of journalistic impartiality. We won’t lobby. We won’t ally with politicians or advocacy groups. We look hard at the critical functions of business and of government, the two biggest centers of power, in areas ranging from product safety to securities fraud, from flaws in our system of criminal justice to practices that undermine fair elections. But we also focus on such institutions as unions, universities, hospitals, foundations and on the media when they constitute the strong exploiting or oppressing the weak, or when they are abusing the public trust.
We strive to be fair. We give people and institutions that our reporting casts in an unfavorable light an opportunity to respond and make sincere and serious efforts to provide that opportunity before we publish. We listen to the response and adjust our reporting when appropriate. We aggressively edit every story we plan to publish, to assure its accuracy and fairness. If errors of fact or interpretation occur, we correct them quickly and clearly. We aim for a working culture that embraces all of these principles, and insist that they infuse all that we do.
How We Do It
We have a newsroom of about 40 working journalists, all of them dedicated to investigative reporting on stories with significant potential for major impact.
Each story we publish is distributed in a manner designed to maximize its impact. Many of our “deep dive” stories are offered exclusively to a traditional news organization, free of charge, for publication or broadcast. We published more than 80 such stories in 2012 with more than 25 different partners. Many are augmented with data rich “news applications” which, in turn, permit the localization of stories on the same subject by other news organizations. Almost all our stories are available for reprint under a Creative Commons license. A series of our stories won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, the first such prize ever for stories not published in print. One of our stories was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2010, the first such award to an online news organization. Another story, broadcast in partnership with This American Life, won a Peabody Award in 2013. Every story is published on this site. The site also features outstanding investigative reporting produced by others, sometimes with our annotation and follow-up, thus making our site both more of a destination and a tool to promote more good work in this field.
We support each story we publish with an active and aggressive communications effort of our own, including regularly contacting reporters, editors and bloggers, encouraging them to follow-up on our reporting, and to link to our site and our work.
How It Is Funded
The publication is supported by private funds from the founder and private Citizens who believe in the mission to promote peace.
Our major stories have to be sufficiently compelling to convince editors and producers to accord them space or time. As they do so consistently, donors will be able to be confident that professional standards are being met and maintained, and that important work is being undertaken. That said, our donors support the independence of our work, and do not influence our editorial processes.
Syria Tomorrow accepts no advertising. And we are constantly exploring possible new revenue streams.
Governance
Syria Tomorrow is a non-profit corporation, Waiting for approval to be exempted from taxes under Section 501(c)(3). It has its own Governing Board.