Reporting at risk of their lives – every day

Journalism/Works

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) is a Syrian citizen journalist group, one of the few independent news sources reporting from inside the Islamic State (ISIS). Newseum Institute COO Gene Policinski spoke with Abdalaziz Alhamza, one of 18 co-founders of the group, and with Courtney Radisch and Sherif Mansour of the Committee to Protect Journalists, about the group’s work. CPJ will present RBSS with its International Press Freedom Award Nov. 24 in New York.

Alhamza and colleagues live under constant threat of death from ISIS. This interview was conducted Nov. 20 in the Newseum’s Knight Studio, just days after the ISIS attacks in Paris, without an audience for security reasons. Though other members of RBSS were present, only Alhamza was available to speak publicly about his group’s work, out of concern for their personal safety.