What Stories Are on North African Journalists' Radars in 2025?

Ouahbi is a journalist, director, and host for ARTE's showTracks, a program dedicated to alternative and underground cultures. In 2025, she is particularly interested in covering Libya's evolving cultural landscape. "My interest deepened after interviewing the American-Libyan artist Hajer Deyaf forDune Magazine," she shares. "Her work explores themes related to identity. The Libyan diaspora plays a key role in this cultural revival, striving to spotlight a culture often overshadowed by narratives of war and destruction."

She cites the opening of Libya's first modern art museum, Bayt Ali Ghana (The House of Ali Gana), in Tripoli during the summer of 2024 as a notable event. "This initiative goes beyond simply showcasing art," says Ouahbi. "The museum serves as a space for education and exchange, providing a vital platform for preserving Libyan cultural heritage."

In Algeria, sports journalist Maher Mezahi is gearing up for an eventful year in (North) African football. Until April, he will be covering theCAF Champions League, with a specific interest in the rise of South African and Sudanese football.

"Despite everything happening at home, there are Sudanese clubs playing in exile, and they are doing really well," he says. "They set up a base in Mauritania and are putting in their best performances in a very long time."

To find out why, is it motivation or something else? Follow Mezahi's reportingon X.

In June, he will head to the U.S. and cover theFIFA Club World Cup, a new, extended format that will see 32 of the globe's leading teams compete. Four African teams qualified: Morocco's Wydad AC, Tunisia's Espérance Sportive de Tunis, Egypt's Al Ahly FC and South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns FC.

"I look forward to seeing how African clubs do on the global level," he says. "I'm expecting African clubs to shock public opinion."

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In Egypt, music journalist Menna Shanab is observing major shifts in the region's industries. When she moved from the U.S. to her parent's home country in 2019, she discovered a vibrant music scene encompassing various genres. "A lot of the music is hidden and underground," she says. "You always have to go hunt and search for it, and I really enjoy that process."

In the past six years, she has become exceptionally skilled at finding the best regional music and now works asYUNG's music editor. "[In 2025] the general theme is connection," she says. "Nobody wants to hear a rapper flexing that he got this drip and that watch. All music is emotional, but people want to hear something that stirs their emotions, not just made as a banger. I think a new wave of pop is entering, and [also] small indie waves."

According to Shanab's intuition, we can expect a return of bands amidst a more significant move towards meaningful collaboration. With that, she foresees a trend of people speaking out about misconduct in a rapidly growing music industry financed by Gulf-based labels. "The Gulf influence is making everybody realize what it means to have an industry and an infrastructure. We're not really used to that, and it comes with some things that maybe go against how we naturally function," she says.

Concretely, this means the end of an era when artists could grow organically and independently. "These big foreign labels with their big money are coming, and music is becoming more commercial as a result," she explains. Artists trying to become mainstream will focus less on the craft and more on selling their projects. Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the table; we never had that before."

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As a journalist, Shanab is adjusting her practice from highlighting unknown artists to deciphering which music is still made for art's sake and what is created to be sold. Music journalism in the region has to adapt to these growing pains by establishing a culture of critique that did not exist before.

In Morocco, Ouahbi closely follows the music industry as well, fascinated by how local rappers like El Grande Toto, Khtek, Shobee, Maad and Bo9al are making themselves heard beyond national borders. "I am particularly intrigued by the behind-the-scenes evolution: the growing structure of Morocco's music industry," she says." Local labels, innovative production companies (with music videos becoming true visual works of art), and international collaborations are 'professionalizing' Moroccan rap."