Syrian investigative reporters Hamoud Al-Mahmoud (left) and Ali Hasoun presenting their work at IMS on a visit to Scandinavia. Photo: Lotte Dahlmann/IMS

Two investigative reporters from Syria presented their work at a conference in Sweden organized by the Swedish Association of Investigative Reporters. Both have been trained by ARIJ 

The conference room is slowly but surely filling up, and after a while not many free seats are left. A number of familiar faces can be spotted within the audience; some of them are the living legends of investigative reporting in Sweden.

The attraction is a presentation about investigative reporting in the Arab world, and more specifically in Syria. Hamoud Al-Mahmoud and Ali Hasoun, both reporters from Syria who have been trained by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) gave the presentation together with Ann-Nina Finne from IMS, who hosted the visit of the two Syrians  to Scandinavia.

The subject of investigative reporting in the Arab world was one of many issues on the agenda at the annual Swedish conference for investigative reporting, Gräv08, in Gothenburg Sweden. 

Investigative reporting in Syria - is it possible? 

During the presentation which lasted just about two hours, the audience raised a number of questions relating to the situation of investigative reporters in Syria. The main topic was, whether it is at all possible to produce investigative reports in Syria. The answer to this would be "Yes, to some extent and within certain limits".

Over the past two years, several Syrian journalists have gone through training organized by ARIJ to learn the skill of investigative reporting. In fact, investigative reporting has become so popular in Syria that, earlier this year, it was announced that the public broadcaster, Syrian TV was about to set up the first investigative program in the country.

Hamoud Al-Mahmoud was appointed executive producer. Simultaneously, Hamouds colleague Ali Hasoun was asked to join a Syrian youth programme, with the specific aim to producing investigative reports for a younger audience. Due to this, the visit to Gothenburg also included three days at the Swedish Television for the Syrian reporters.

Gothenburg is the hub of the investigative TV program "Uppdrag Granskning", which is broadcast weekly on Swedish national TV, and the visit offered a unique opportunity for Hamoud and Ali to get a close look at the production process behind the leading investigative TV program in Scandinavia.