Network of Citizen Journalists, A Project of the Lina Ben Mhenni Association

Train a new generation of committed citizens to document, denounce and act on social and environmental issues.

Lina Ben Mhenni was not just a blogger; she was a voice of freedom, an echo of the Tunisian revolution, a figure of courage in the face of censorship and repression. Through her blog “Tunisian Girl”, Lina paved the way for what we today call citizen journalism. It showed that everyone, armed with a telephone or a keyboard, could become a witness and an actor of change.

While the Ben Ali dictatorship stifled all forms of opposition, Lina went to the deprived towns in the interior of the country, where anger against the regime was boiling. She used her blog and social media to show what traditional media did not dare to report. In December 2010, after the immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, Lina was the first to go to Sidi Bouzid, the epicenter of the Tunisian revolution. His blog, written in French, English and Arabic, quickly became a beacon of truth, connecting the suffering of Tunisians to the rest of the world.

Lina proved that you don’t need to be a professional journalist to denounce injustices. Her blog has become a platform for the voiceless, and she, a leading figure in citizen journalism. This ability to make the invisible visible has earned her international recognition, and in 2011, she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

But his fight did not end with the fall of the regime. Even when ill, Lina continued to defend human rights and freedom of expression, participating in demonstrations, in trials, and always using her pen and her voice to speak out against injustice.

Our Mission:
The training offered by the Citizen Journalists Network is not limited to learning how to capture images or write articles. They inspire a new generation to act and get involved. Each session is designed to:

Encourage independence:
 Participants learn to tell their own stories, choose their angles, and use simple tools (like their smartphones) to capture stories, photos, and videos, which they can then share on platforms like social media or personal blogs.

Develop critical thinking:
The training emphasizes the importance of verifying facts and producing ethical and responsible reporting. The goal is to create citizen journalists capable of telling credible stories, fairly and transparently.

Explore new horizons:
Thanks to the different lenses offered (environment, gender, human rights), participants learn to analyze complex situations from several angles, which makes them better able to propose global solutions to local problems.

Why this project is important
Lina Ben Mhenni showed that a single voice could inspire a movement and change the course of a revolution. The Citizen Journalists Network amplifies this message by training a new generation of citizen journalists. Through their stories, images and videos, they continue to tell the stories of the invisible, denounce injustices and light the path to a more just and sustainable future.

The objective is clear: to give citizens the tools necessary to make their voices heard, as Lina did. The program not only teaches the basics of reporting and visual storytelling, but also encourages deepening perspectives and looking at issues from multiple angles: environment, gender, human rights and social justice.

By giving them the means to express themselves, document and share their realities, the Citizen Journalists Network extends Lina’s commitment to freedom, justice and human dignity.

Broadening Perspectives: A New Vision for Journalism

The Citizen Journalists Network is not a simple technical training course. It’s about opening minds, inviting participants to look at the world through several prisms to understand the complexity of current issues.

• The Environment: Participants learn to document environmental degradation and its impact on their communities. Whether it’s pollution, climate change or natural resource management, they are trained to show how these crises particularly affect vulnerable groups, such as women and children in marginalized areas.
• Gender and Human Rights: The program places particular emphasis on gender and human rights issues, showing how social injustices affect women and minorities differently. Participants learn to use an intersectional lens to tell often overlooked stories, bringing needed visibility to the daily struggles of the most marginalized.
• Social Justice and Local Governance: Inspired by Lina’s example, citizen journalists are trained to hold local authorities accountable for their actions. Whether it’s corruption, mismanagement or social inequality, they use their reporting to call for more transparency and justice.