Months after a coup attempt and street protests failed to prevent president Pierre Nkurunziza’s violent consolidation of power, news-starved Burundians rely on social media as a lifeline for news and information about family members who have been arrested, disappeared, or killed.
The bruising crackdown on local media gave way to a culture of rumor and fear, two men and their teams of out-of-work journalists and street-level informants have taken to social media, at huge risk to their personal safety, in order to keep Burundians—at-home and in-exile—and the international community informed.
The founders of SOS Medias Burundi—originally more of an underground radio broadcaster—quickly realized they needed to combat the misinformation on social media with a Facebook-based outlet offering verified news.
“All of us were discouraged by this, asking ‘Is this the end of true journalism in Burundi?’” says W.K., 35.