The red line

THE RED LINE in an independent media offering a local, global and impartial coverage of Iraqi news.

As an independent media, THE RED LINE was launched in 2021 by a team of international journalists in collaboration with local partners, researchers specializing in Iraq et the Middle East, as well as with graphic designers, a web developer and a translators team of professional translators and editors.

With a team of local correspondents spread across every region of Iraq, THE RED LINE has the ambition to produce news in four languages (arabic, kurdish, french and english). Finally, THE RED LINE is the only media proposing content in colloquial iraqi Arabic.

THE RED LINE is a web platform spécialized on Iraq and also covers countries that have an influence in it. We will provide publications in four languages: Arabic, Kurdish, English and French) dispatched in themed sections:

The founders of THE RED LINE are Mohammed, Sylvain and Paolo. Iraqi journalist Mohammed Shiaa has a deep understanding of Iraqi affairs and of the media industry of his country. His national network will prove crucial to provide THE RED LINE with quality reports. French journalist Sylvain Mercadier will ensure the quality of THE RED LINE’s editorial line while enhancing the local network of reporters in Iraq and abroad. His five years of experience in Iraq (as well as in neighboring countries) will strengthen the journalistic content of the media. Finally, French journalist and film director Paolo Kahn will be the last cornerstone of the project by bringing his highly valued media engineering skills acquired in unstable environments. Together, they will be tightly collaborating with a team of Iraqi journalists all around the country locally managed by Iraqi coordinator Amer al Sheibani. altogether, they make the perfect match to turn THE RED LINE into the first independent Iraqi media, offering reliable and diverse content.
This initial team is completed by a web developer and a team of professional translators. On the ground, reporting is ensured by a wide network of independent journalists spread across the country while logistics is carried by local coordinators in three different regions of the country (Karbala, Baghdad and Sulaymaniyah).
Our various official contributors include the French embassy in Baghdad and European Endowment for Democracy.
The Red Line’s local and international media partners include Kurdish Iraqi independent outlet Awene, Mosul based independent broadcasting and outlet Radio Time FM as well as Middle East magazine OrientXXI.
Operational partners include Iraqi NGO IMOK, France’s public international media promotion organization CFI, as well as the Samir Kassir Foundation.

Thanks to an initial donation by the French institute in Baghdad, we have been able to develop this first version of the website in order to show our readiness to enhance our content, to develop our graphic design and to refine our editorial strategy.
We consider it is urgent to promote independent content about Iraqi issues. Iraq is an unstable country still and remains poorly understood despite having been the center of attention for several decades. At the crossroads of civilizations and in the epicenter of a geopolitical knot with foreign interference, it remains important to offer reliable articles showing the realities of the ground. It is also important to write in and about Iraq to support an industry under threat and subject to daily violations. To publish is to support our Iraqi colleagues and to fully endorse the role of “fourth estate” the press strives for. THE RED LINE wishes to reveal, dissect and publish social investigations despite pressures or death threats targeting Iraqi journalists while we will always keep as a fundamental priority the security of our authors in the field.