How to follow some of the stories most important to us
Over the course of our 20-month run, reported.ly never did its work entirely alone. We’re a team of five people, but our work has incorporated the collective knowledge of countless others, including our fellow journalists, NGOs and citizens around the world. We may be suspending our operations today, but their work continues. We offer this sampling of some of them so you can continue following the stories we’ve long covered in our absence.
The war in Yemen
Reported.ly has been following the Saudi-led coalition’s ongoing conflict with Houthi rebels for the past 18 months, focusing on the millions of civilians caught in the middle. According to the UN, at least 10,000 civilians have died.
Who to follow:
@omeisy. A local who lives in Sana’a, Hisham Al-Omeisy is one of the best sources for up-to-date information on what is happening in Yemen’s capital.
@ionacraig. The last western correspondent to leave the country in 2014, and the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Orwell Prize, Iona Craig is consistently reporting on the Yemen crisis and conflict.
Our Yemen Twitter list contains hundreds of other people who live in Yemen or have covered the conflict: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/yemen
The Syrian Civil War
Syria’s horrifying conflict is about as complex as any war can get, and summarizing all the resources that can help you follow the complete would be a feature story in it’s own right (and alas, we’re switching off the lights in just a few hours.)
On Twitter:
These two sites are useful in tracking the latest from Syria by geography:
Our Syria Twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/syria
The Mediterranean refugee crisis
The EU — Turkey relocation deal reduced the numbers of refugees arriving in Europe via Greece by an order of magnitude, but tens of thousands await relocation and family reunification there in limbo, and flows in the dangerous Central Mediterranean increased.
If you’d like to keep getting reliable information on the refugee crisis, including rescues off Libya and off Greece, you can check our Twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/eumigrants
For rescues off the coast of Libya you can follow these accounts of fleets involved:
To follow arrivals and camps in Greece:
To compare data on migrant fluxes and other news:
UNHCR at @Refugees
South Sudan civil unrest
With two armies in the capital, and an unwillingness by the UN Security Council to enforce an arms embargo, the 5-year-old country almost slid back into civil war recently, flooding Uganda with refugees.
@JasonPatinkin uncovered recent atrocities committed on the Nuer minority in Juba, on the UN’s watch
@HannahMcNeish is a must-follow freelancer on anything East Africa, specializing in the South Sudan conflict
Also follow our recently updated South Sudan list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/southsudan
Venezuela’s continuing economic collapse
The country has been hard-hit in the past few years, leading to food and medicine shortages and a push to recall President Nicolas Maduro.
Follow @hannahdreier. Hannah is the AP correspondent in Venezuela and regularly gives insight into daily life in Caracas.
Read El Nacional. A leading newspaper in Venezuela, it’s in Spanish only, but Google translate is generally helpful.
Our Venezuela Twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/venezuela
Xenophobia in South Africa
South Africa is still trying to heal from decades of apartheid, just as the economy falters. In 2008 and 2015, there were xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in the country. We’ve continued following the topic ever since.
Follow @EWN. They’re a great small newsroom that is always on top of what is going on around the country.
Read The Daily Maverick. An online-only news site that doesn’t have bias one way or the other. Full of great essays and opinion articles however.
Our South Africa list is full of talented reporters, activists and students: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/southafrica
Oromo protests in Ethiopia
The Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic minority and they’ve been protesting since late 2015, against institutional bias. Hundreds have died, according to human rights organizations.
Follow @OPride. Mohammed Ademo isn’t in Ethiopia, but he’s one of the founders of Oromo Pride, a media network dedicated to the Oromo people.
Subscribe to updates from Jawar Mohammed on Facebook. Jawar is a founder of a different Oromo media outlet, the Oromo Media Network (OMN). He regularly posts images and updates from Oromo leaders.
Anti-Mugabe protests in Zimbabwe
The rise of the “This Flag” protests in Zimbabwe are mainly against President Robert Mugabe and his administration.
Follow @harumutasa The Al Jazeera reporter in Harare covers the protests on a daily basis.
Search #ThisFlag on Twitter and Facebook. The hashtag is certainly one-sided, but is a good way to get a glimpse at what is happening in Zimbabwe.
Our Twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/zimbabwe
Ayotzinapa
The “Iguala Case” as it is known to authorities, relates to the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in the state of Guerrero, Mexico that went missing on September 26, 2014. The case has made international headlines decrying Mexico’s human rights violations and police impunity.
@GIEIAYOTZINAPA — This is the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts created by the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the case. They’ve released various reports in English and Spanish that debunk the investigations of the Mexican government.
@Omarel44 — Omar Garcia is a student that survived the night in which his fellow classmates were attacked by local police and made to disappear. He calls himself “44” and has become a public speaker on Mexico’s human rights violations and the ongoing case.
Felipe de la Cruz on Facebook: De la Cruz is an uncle to a missing student, professor at the Ayotzinapa Teachers College and spokesperson for the parents and family. He posts public photos and information on the case in Spanish.
Also read La Jornada, independent Spanish daily hosted and affiliated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). They offer excellent news coverage on protests, politics and working class and student movements often critical of the government.
For more, follow Wendy Carrillo’s Twitter list on Ayotzinapa. For a broader sense of what’s happening in Mexico, you can follow our team’s twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/mexico
The Colombia-FARC peace accords
After more than 50 years of armed conflict that left 220,000 dead and 25,000 disappeared, peace will soon be a reality between the government and leftist-rebel group FARC. While other rebel groups like ELN still exist, the country is experiencing a new beginning. FARC will become a political group, which will be an interesting development for the country. While steps for peace have been negotiated, its still not 100% completed.
@FARC_EPeace — Launched in 2016, this account shares information in English on FARC activities as it relates to the ongoing peace agreement and future political plans.
@Timochenko_FARC — Top leadership with FARC and main peace negotiator with government.
@ComisionadoPaz — This account offers information on the ongoing peace process from the government’s point of view.
@JuanManSantos — Surprisingly, the President of Colombia has a very active Twitter account and regularly tweets info on peace talks and next steps. Six presidents before him had been unsuccessful in negotiating a peace agreement.
For more, read The Council of Foreign Relations background on the conflict and follow our Twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/colombia
Human rights in Egypt
Our list is a treasure trove of activists, reporters, experts and human rights researchers both inside and outside Egypt, selected over many years of coverage since the Egyptian revolution in 2011: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/egypt
If you need to read news from one outlet, make it Mada Masr, a very serious independent outlet born out of the embers of the revolution, with very good sources, careful reporting and fact-checking. Also on Twitter at @madamasr.
The ongoing crisis in Turkey
Turkey is becoming an impossible place to report from — or on — due to the unprecedented post-coup attempt crackdown on the media. However, it has a vibrant and engaged English-speaking online sphere, and courageous journalists and activists.
Our Turkey Twitter list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/turkey
Brazilian politics
https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/brazil
Black Lives Matter
If you’d like to monitor developments on police brutality in the US and the Afro-American struggle, a good place to start is our Baltimore list: https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists/baltimore
To access all of our Twitter lists, visit https://twitter.com/reportedly/lists. They cover almost every country and every US state, as well as a number of news topics and international cities.
