Just a year and a half after its launch, The Levant Files (TLF) is approaching a major milestone: half a million unique visitors.
Your growing trust in TLF as a gateway to news, analysis and perspectives from across the Levant brings new responsibilities. It also encourages us to move forward with new projects while protecting the principles on which TLF was founded: independence, openness and editorial integrity.
We would therefore like to share several important developments with our readers.
Recently, a media platform based in a Middle Eastern capital approached TLF with a proposal for business cooperation. Financially, the offer was attractive. After careful consideration, however, we decided to put the proposal on hold for the time being.
Our reasoning is straightforward: TLF’s independent editorial line comes first. Any future partnership or business arrangement must respect that independence completely.
We also want to address a subject about which we regularly receive questions: our use of artificial intelligence.
Yes, TLF uses modern AI tools. We use them to assist with proofreading, polishing texts, improving translations and supporting aspects of our podcast production. We have been transparent about this approach from the beginning.
But there is an important distinction. TLF does not use AI to replace its journalists, editors or analysts. Our original reporting and analyses are produced by people. When we translate, republish or reproduce material originally published elsewhere, we inform our readers through a clear editorial note and identify the original source. When an illustration or image has been generated using AI, we disclose that as well.
For us, new technology is a tool — not a substitute for journalism.
And now, another important announcement:
Starting today, The Levant Files is completely ad-free.
No more advertising around our articles. No more unnecessary distractions. We want our readers to encounter the journalism first.
Maintaining an independent, multilingual and ad-free platform, however, requires resources. In the near future, we plan to introduce a new model for selected special articles and content that may ask readers for a small contribution. Any such initiative will have one central purpose: helping TLF preserve and strengthen its editorial and financial independence.
There is much more coming.
New TLF vodcasts are on the way, along with mobile apps designed to make our journalism easier to follow wherever you are. More details will be announced soon.
And one final reminder: The Levant Files publishes in five languages, making TLF one of the relatively few genuinely multilingual media platforms dedicated to the Levant and its wider region.
You can support this project without paying anything. Read us. Share our work. Recommend TLF to others. And follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Mastodon and Substack.
Approaching half a million readers is an important milestone for a platform launched only a year and a half ago.
For The Levant Files, however, it is not a destination.
It is the beginning of our next chapter.
The Levant Files Editorial Team
Comments
Post a Comment