ROJAVA
DIARY
Daily life in northern Syria during Turkey's Operation Peace Spring — reported via WhatsApp, from inside.
READ THE DIARY →Out of 1,000+ entries from 47 countries · The "European Pulitzer"
"Brilliant packaging of chats and short-form journalism."
— Alan Rusbridger (former Guardian editor), Chair of Judges"You are completely immersed in daily life — you keep on clicking and scrolling and have the feeling that you are there. It is done so well technically — this is a new way of storytelling. I found this tremendous."
— Sheila Sitalsing, Panel of Judges"A powerful, interactive diary documenting war and human suffering in a very accessible form, using WhatsApp as a reporting tool. Showing that such an app can record much more — even human history — than just a banal chat."
— Preparatory Committee, European Press Prize 2021
THE ANTI-PARACHUTE DISPATCH
When Turkey launched its offensive into Kurdish-controlled Rojava on October 9, 2019, most international media flew in correspondents or contacted local fixers. Outriders did neither. Syrian journalist Massoud Hamid — who grew up in the region — spent three months traversing the aftermath: hospitals, funerals, refugee camps, prisons, schools. He reported everything by WhatsApp.
His field notes — voice messages, photos, short clips, sent in French at all hours — became the raw material for 22 bilingual videocasts, produced in Warsaw by Jakub Górnicki and the Outriders team.
"WHATSAPP IS MORE PERSONAL. YOU DESCRIBE EVERYTHING AS IF YOU ARE TALKING TO YOUR MOTHER."
— Lola García-Ajofrín, Editorial Lead · The Fix, Oct 2019
BUILT ON WHATSAPP
Massoud conducted interviews in Kurdish, translated them into French, then sent everything — voice notes, photos, short clips — through a WhatsApp group. Lola García-Ajofrín translated from French to English. Jakub Górnicki assembled the materials into a videocast for each episode, recording a bilingual voice-over narration. Polish translation by Karolina Kania. Published episodically over three months, then compiled into one interactive longform article.
Three of the team were in Warsaw. One was in Rojava. One was in southern Asia. The WhatsApp group was the newsroom.
"Anti-parachute journalism: The making of the Rojava Diary"
"Anytime a conflict erupts, global networks use fixers to tell their story or parachute in journalists who don't know the local context. Outriders did the opposite."
"How to use WhatsApp to create a multimedia crossborder story from a conflict zone: The Case of #RojavaDiary"
"Outriders wśród nominowanych do 'europejskiego Pulitzera'"
(Polish media industry coverage of the European Press Prize shortlist)
"YOU KEEP ON CLICKING AND SCROLLING..."
"...AND HAVE THE FEELING THAT YOU ARE THERE."
— Sheila Sitalsing, European Press Prize 2021 Judges' Panel