‘We have stories to tell’: Inside Lebanon’s refugee newsroom
Campji, a news channel in Beirut, is dedicated to stories of refugees told by the refugees themselves.
Ahmed Mansour understood the importance of media representation at an early age when he watched the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008 on TV.
“It was a turning point for me. I saw how the Israeli media twisted the reality on the ground to benefit its own narrative. We Palestinians didn’t have the necessary means to refute their claims,” Mansour said.
Mansour got a chance to pursue journalism when the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle started an initiative in 2013 to train refugees.
Together, these citizen journalists run Campji, a news channel dedicated stories of refugees told by the refugees themselves.
With more than 30,000 followers on Facebook, Campji is an opportunity for young Palestinians like Mansour to reclaim the refugee narrative and change stereotypes about the camps.
“I want to shed light on all the positive things that exist in the camps,” he said. “A refugee is a normal person, a person like any other citizen in Lebanon or the rest of the world. We have stories to tell.”
Filmmaker: HyoJin Park
Translator and Assistant Producer: Farah Najjar