ICIJ expands membership to 267 members in 100 countries

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has expanded its global membership of journalists to a record 267 members in 100 countries.

The consortium’s Network Committee announced today it had approved an additional 18 reporters for membership from a diverse range of countries, some of which were previously unrepresented in ICIJ’s list of members.

New countries include The Gambia, Morocco, Mauritius, Cuba, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Czech Republic, and Armenia.

Among the new members is Marina Walker Guevara, who as deputy director of the ICIJ, managed ground breaking investigations such as the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and Looting the Seas.

The chair of the Network Committee, Minna Knus-Galán, said new members were approved following a rigorous selection process and recommendations from other ICIJ members.

“I’m amazed at the skill, resilience, passion and above all the proven capacity of international collaboration that these new ICIJ members have. I’m looking forward to seeing the result of their work together with the current ICIJ members in future projects.’’

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The new members are:

Ali Amar, Morocco, Le Desk

Alberto Arellano Jordán, Chile, Diego Portales University & El Centro de Investigación Periodística (CIPER)

Edik Baghdasaryan, Armenia, Investigative Journalists NGO, Hetq Online

Luc Caregari, Luxembourg, Woxx

Axcel Chenney, Mauritius, L’express

José Roberto de Toledo, Brazil, revista piauí

Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, Cuba, Periodismo de Barrio

Pavla Holcová, Czech Republic, Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism

Alia Ibrahim, Lebanon, Daraj Media

Lamin Jahateh, The Gambia, freelance

Eva Jung, Denmark, Berlingske

Barbara Maseda, Cuba, Proyecto Inventario

Stefan Melichar, Austria, profil

Stelios Orphanides, Cyprus, (currently in Bosnia Herzegovina), OCCRP

Aidila Razak, Malaysia, Malaysiakini

Maria Ressa, Philippines, Rappler

Atanas Tchobanov, Bulgaria, Bivol.bg

Marina Walker Guevara, United States, Pulitzer Center

Knus-Galán, in a statement with Network Committee vice-chairs Bill Birnbauer and Titus Plattner, said Walker Guevara had been the soul of ICIJ for many years and was the glue that held together an even larger network of hundreds of journalists and dozens of news organizations collaborating on vast global projects.

“She helped pioneer a collaborative methodology that sparked dozens of official inquiries around the world.’’

Walker Guevara left ICIJ in January this year to become the executive editor of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

The Network Committee noted that many ICIJ journalists worked in dangerous environments with little of the protection journalists have in democratic nations.

“ICIJ welcomes the new members and will continue to expose truth whatever challenges arise.’’

ICIJ’s Network Committee assesses potential members and provides advice to the ICIJ director on membership and other issues.