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Crowdfunding Citizen Journalism in Cairo

A video explaining the work of Mosireen, an Egyptian media collective engaged in an online crowdfunding campaign on the site indiegogo.

Mosireen, a media collective in downtown Cairo that offers equipment and training to citizen journalists, was born out of the effort by activists to document the Egyptian revolution online. As the group's mission statement says, that was vital during the street protests that drove Hosni Mubarak from the presidential palace 21 months ago, when, “Armed with mobile phones and cameras, thousands upon thousands of citizens kept the balance of truth in their country by recording events as they happened in front of them, wrong-footing censorship and empowering the voice of a street-level perspective.”

Sin ce The Lede exists in part to draw attention to firsthand reports on news events posted online, regular readers will be familiar with Mosireen's work. The group produced several important video reports featured on this blog during the period of military rule that followed Egypt's 2011 revolution. Video posted on the Mosireen YouTube channel documented, among other incidents: a massacre of mainly Coptic Christian civilians late last year outside the headquarters of state television, known as Maspero; a brutal attack on a female protester by Egyptian soldiers two months later; the violent dispersal of a sit-in outside the country's Parliament in February.

As chaotic street battles have become less common, the organization has evolved into a vital source of reporting on social issues - like the need to deliver justice to victims of torture, adequate healthcare, decent housing and a clean environment to Egyptian citizens.

In keeping wit h its ambition, to provide independent reporting by and for the citizens of a country where state control of the media remains largely in place, Mosireen has been engaged in a crowdfunding drive with a page for donations on the site indiegogo. So far the filmmakers have raised more than $30,000, which is three-quarters of the total they hope to raise by the end of the campaign, at midnight tonight, Pacific Time.

During an interview in Mosireen's office in a ramshackle building on Adly Street in Cairo this summer, Salma Said, a leader of the collective - who was riddled with birdshot pellets by the security forces while filming one attack on protesters - explained how the group's activities expanded in the aftermath of the revolution.

The activists initially came together to build an archive of clips documenting the street protests of early 2011, Ms. Said said, but then, struck by the lack of independent reporting on the post-Mubarak government, they began to make their own reports, often incorporating video recorded on phones by witnesses. Given that the airwaves were still dominated by state channels that were loathe to air any critical reports on the country's new rulers, the Mosireen activists staged a series of public screenings of video that challenged official accounts of clashes, like that the security forces only used force against “thugs,” not peaceful protesters.

According to the call for donations from supporters, the group hopes to get the resources to expand its activities to other parts of Egypt, keep its collective workspace open for free, stage more outdoor screenings, buy hard drives to hold the expanding archive of the revolution, and, “keep making films, f ilms that support civilian campaigns, films that press for social justice, films that expose state narratives.”