Fatima Rida from Lebanon and Mads Ellesøe from Denmark, teamed up by IMS, investigated a number of stories in Lebanon as well as Denmark. Photo: Rasmus Steen/IMS

After two rounds of collaboration, Lebanese investigative reporter Fatima Rida and her Danish fellow reporter, Mads Ellesøe stress the importance of being each others sounding boards when carrying out investigations in a foreign country. In this interview with IMS, they share their experiences

First he travelled to Lebanon to research a story, and she helped him with contacts, permits, cultural dos and don'ts and a local view on his ideas. Then she came to Denmark and investigated her story with his help, contacts, knowledge about the ins and outs of Danish society - as well as serving as the eternal Devil's advocate.

- It really worked well. Mads asked the right questions to help me stay on track, says Fatima Rida during the last days of her visit to Denmark.

Mads Ellesøe and Farima Rida have passed by the IMS office in Copenhagen between two meetings in their search for facts to Fatima's story. Described in vague terms - to maintain the suspense until the moment when the story breaks - Fatima's story is about persons she found in Lebanon affiliated with fundamentalist groups who have ties to the Arab immigrant community in Denmark. Obviously, it is a subject not easily investigated neither in Denmark nor in Lebanon. Luckily Mads Ellesøe is well-versed in some of the Arab circles in Denmark, and this has turned out to be invaluable to Fatima:

- If I came to Denmark on my own to research my story, I couldn't get the information I needed or meet with government officials. I simply wouldn't know how, she says.

Same but different thinking

They both agree that working in a foreign culture makes them less bold and more cautions, wherefore they have profitted greatly from asking the advice of a local fellow journalist:

- Like when I asked Fatima whether I could bring my camera to the Hezbollah-controlled area, and she just looked at me, says Mads Ellesøe and laughs in hinesight.

- Even I couldn't bring my camera to these areas without special permission! adds Fatima with a big smile.

They have also found small but significant differences in how they go about professional journalism:

- In general, I believe journalists in Denmark take the departure in more narrow angles than journalists in Lebanon, says Mads.

- It's true. We tend to begin with the big picture, says Fatima.

- Like when Fatima came to me and said: "I need to find out about all the laws about foreigners in Denmark", explains Mads and rolls his eyes - it's a jungle, so I didn't quite know where to start.

Instead, Mads asked Fatima, why and for what she needed all this information. And that helped focusing, says Fatima.

The results of Fatima's and Mads' work will be published in Lebanon and Denmark in the coming months. In the meantime, they will be busy writing their articles, producing tv and radio programs based on their joint research.

Once published in the press, IMS will post the stories on this website.