Sahara Reporters
Sahara Reporters is a news agency based in New York City that focuses on promoting citizen journalism by encouraging everyday people to report stories about corruption, human rights abuses and other political misconduct in Africa, with special focus on Nigeria. Sahara Reporters specializes in exposing corruption and government malfeasance. History Based in New York City, Sahara Reporters was founded in 2006 by Omoyele Sowore. It employs staff members in Nigeria and the United States. The site's publication of leaked, often unfiltered information has disrupted Nigeria's traditional media scene. By basing his operation in New York, Sowore for years had a degree of protection from the consequences of publishing often scandalous information about Nigeria's most powerful people. He shuttled between his family home in New Jersey and Nigeria, where he is a citizen, without much interference. After launching an open presence in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2017, Sahara Reporters has come under a series of attacks, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), among others. On December 10, 2019, Sahara Reporters staff told CPJ that their Nigerian bank account was frozen without advance notice in October. Their website was separately disabled twice due to allegations of copyright infringement, and staff