Online news website ‘Mada Masr’ is this year’s recipient of the 2019 Free Media Pioneer Award for publishing independent news coverage and investigative reports. The Free Media Pioneer Award was established by the International Press Institute (IPI) in 1996 to recognize journalists and media organizations that contribute to ensuring freer and more independent media in their country. “IPI Free Media Pioneers are trailblazing media or press freedom organisations that have opened up new frontiers for the free flow of news and information in their countries,” as stated on its website. The award will be presented along with IPI’s 2019 World Press Freedom Hero Award during a special ceremony on June 5, 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 2013 after the shutting down of Egypt Independent in 2013, former journalists that worked in the old newspaper decided to launch their own independent platform. “We decided we want to publish in Arabic as well as English, that we want to see more data-based reports, more investigative journalism. We want to experiment with different ways of storytelling. And very importantly, develop a business model and deploy a visionary commercial team that helps make…
