Sahara Reporters Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == History == [[File: Sahara Reporters logo.png|thumb|The old Sahara Reporters logo]] Based in New York City, Sahara Reporters was founded in 2006 by Omoyele Sowore.<ref name=NYTimes-ReportingHomeland-2011 /><ref name="guardian-thamm" /> 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.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Ruth|last1=Maclean|access-date=September 13, 2021|title=Nigeria Cracks Down on a Critic, and a New Jersey Town Pushes Back|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/world/africa/Nigeria-Sowore-Sahara-Reporters.html|newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date=December 22, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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 report cyberattacks and increased surveillance outside their Lagos office, according to Sahara Reporters staff who spoke to CPJ. "Sahara Reporters must be permitted to keep the Nigerian public informed without intimidation", said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator. "Surveillance, cyberattacks, and copyright notices against Sahara Reporters mark a concerning pattern of interference and harassment of an investigative news outlet." In December 2009, Sahara Reporters drew worldwide attention by being the first news source to identify and publish the photo of [[Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab]], known more commonly as the "underwear bomber", who is a suspected terrorist accused of attempting to blow-up [[Northwest Airlines Flight 253]] on Christmas Day by detonating a plastic bomb that exploded in his underwear.<ref name="NYTimes-ReportingHomeland-2011" /> Sahara Reporters has gained a large following both in Nigeria and amongst Nigerians abroad, and reaches over fifteen million people across its social media platforms.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Although Sahara Reporters reports from New York are protected by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]], both Sowore and the organization have received threats from individuals whose illegal activities have been exposed on the Sahara Reporters website, as well as the Nigerian government.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page