I’ve been following Mashallah project through distant Facebook messages, to find out that ‘Mashallah project’ turned into ‘Mashallah News‘ on November 25th — It seems that the site is launched! And a ‘new media is born’ indeed.
Made up of a team of journalists, bloggers, graphic designers and photographers, Mashallah news spreads information from cities lying between Morocco and Iran. Currently covering Beirut, Cairo, Casablanca, Damascus, Istanbul, Jeddah, Mashallah is calling for contributors, to cover these cities and more.
There is something refreshing about Mashallah. Maybe it’s the fact that the news are ‘disOriented’, clearly focusing on social/cultural subjects you don’t hear of that often. Maybe it’s the yellow background. But the communication so far has raised my expectations! So has the choice of the geographical area.
Not restricted to the Mediterranean – about which we have heard so much recently it almost discredits the existence of such a cultural entity – the new media draws a potentially very exciting map of cities vibrant with an underground life, and culturally connected.
My first click went to ‘Jeddah’ – aren’t we just thirsty for disOriented news from some places? The post was about family areas, the law for the separation of the genders, and the subsequent tricks young men find to reach out to girls. Although I can understand the interest of such a post for a foreign audience, I was slightly disappointed, since as an Arab, I am familiar with this law, and have read or heard about ways people find to meet. I guess it depends on whose curiosity the site intends to cater for.
Still, it was fun and interesting to see it written down, in English and Arabic. And the kind of subjects chosen, as well as the posts’ tone, are promising.
Mabrouk Mashallah team! We’re looking forward for more.
Follow Mashallah news on twitter @MashallahTweet