Zan Times: Measuring Impact, Protecting Sources, and Scaling Investigations Through Global Partnerships

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/02/25

 The Zan Times is an Afghan women-led investigative newsroom working in exile, founded in August 2022 by journalist Zahra Nader to report human-rights violations in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Its team and reporting network span Afghanistan and the diaspora, publishing for audiences in Farsi, Pashto, Uzbek, and English. Zan Times focuses on women’s lived realities under gender apartheid, documenting abuses, survival, and resistance while prioritizing source and reporter safety. Through international co-publications, it amplifies Afghan women’s voices globally, builds readership via its newsletter, and secures resources that help keep journalists working on the ground. It welcomes republication with credit and newsletter links.

In this interview, Zan Times Team explains how international co-publications turn investigations into measurable impact. Working with outlets such as The Guardian, they track reach by translations, citations, Afghan media pickup, and newsletter growth—while co-publication fees help sustain an exile newsroom. They outline non-negotiable operational security: pseudonyms, stripping traceable details, minimizing digital footprints, restricting internal access, and delaying publication when risk spikes. Decision-making follows one rule: pursue a story only if people can be protected. They note Sana Atef’s IWMF Courage award widened support networks, including a Forbes invite, and describe a 10-month fellowship training ten women journalists inside Afghanistan. 

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When a Zan Times investigation is co-published internationally, how do you measure real-world impact? 

The Zan Times: International partnership is immensely important to work, because they expand both the reach and the impact of our reporting. When a Zan Times investigation is co-published with a major outlet, it immediately reaches audiences far beyond what we could access on our own. We see the effect almost instantly: stories published with platforms like The Guardian are often translated into many other languages, sometimes cited by over a dozen other media, and even spark debate within Afghan media outlets that then pick up and report on the same findings.

For us, these partnerships are not just about visibility, they are a way to measure real impact. We look closely at how widely a report travels: how many languages it appears in, how many international newsrooms reference it, and how much conversation it generates. We also track how many new newsletter subscribers a co-publication brings in, because an engaged and growing audience is central to our long-term sustainability.

Financially, these collaborations are crucial. As a small newsroom operating in exile, the remuneration from co-publications helps sustain our work and supports our reporters on the ground in Afghanistan.

When we develop a major report and recognize that it may resonate internationally, we proactively reach out and pitch it to global media partners. While we hope to publish as many stories as possible through such partnerships, not every report finds a partner. Still, our goal this year is for at least 60 percent of our reporting to be co-published with international outlets.

At the same time, we warmly welcome other media to reproduce our work with proper credit. Many already translate our articles or essays into their own languages. Our only request is that they include a link inviting readers to subscribe to our newsletter, which is vital for us for building a sustainable audience.

We do not impose strict criteria for partnerships or republication. Our priority is simple: ensuring that the voices and lived experiences of Afghan women reach as many people, in as many places, and in as many languages as possible.

Jacobsen: In stories like the protest crackdown report, what operational security practices become non-negotiable based on experience? 

The Zan Times: Given the situation in Afghanistan, for almost all our investigations operational security is absolutely non-negotiable. Any reporting that could expose our journalists or our sources to retaliation triggers our strictest safety protocols. If a reporter is inside Afghanistan, we take every possible measure to protect their identity: they never use their real names, and we remove any traceable details that could reveal their location, background, or movements.

The same applies to the people we interview. We remove any identifying information, such as age, neighborhood, profession, education level, or family details, that could be used by the Taliban to trace them. We only use some details, if we believe it would not compromise the identity of the interviewee or our reporter.

Operational security also means designing our reporting workflow around risk. We avoid digital footprints, and ask our reporters to never store sensitive information in shared or searchable platforms. Reporters inside the country decide when and how to move, whether to conduct interviews in person or remotely, and when it is no longer safe to continue a line of inquiry.

We have also adopted additional safeguards based on experience: We delay publication when immediate release could endanger a source or reporter. When a story seems risky for journalists on the ground, we ask our editors outside Afghanistan to handle and contact sources and for verification of facts and stories. We even restrict access to information within our team, so only essential editors and fact-checkers see the raw material that could compromise a source. We always continuously do risk assessment. We reassess every interview and detail before publication.

Above all, our priority is clear: the safety of our journalists and the protection of our sources come before every story. No report, no matter how important, is worth putting a life at risk.

Jacobsen: How did you decide in 2025 which investigations are worth additional risk? 

The Zan Times: In today’s Afghanistan, every piece of reporting carries some level of risk. There is no such thing as a “safe” investigation. Because of that, we approach all our work with the same vigilance: we protect identities, remove any detail that could expose a reporter or a source, and design our workflow around security from the very first interview to the moment of publication.

Our newsroom has developed internal criteria over time. We always look, can we gather and verify information without putting reporters or sources in immediate danger? Can editorial work, verification, writing, fact-checking, be shifted outside the country to reduce risk? Do we have the capacity to publish the story in a way that protects everyone involved?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then we move forward. Ultimately, our philosophy is simple: the story is only worth pursuing if we can protect the people who make it possible. Safety is non-negotiable, even for the most important investigations.

Jacobsen: Sana Atef’s IWMF Courage in Journalism Award spotlights your team’s work. How has that recognition changed your safety posture and international support network? 

The Zan Times: Sana Atef’s International Women’s Media Foundation courage award has been both an honour and a responsibility for us. Her Courage in Journalism Award brought visibility to the kind of reporting Afghan women journalists are forced to carry out under severe repression. But it also increased the risks she faces inside Afghanistan. To protect her safety, we placed her on leave; she is not working on reports at the moment, and in the future we will evaluate the situation and only reintegrate her when conditions allow.

Internationally, this recognition has expanded our network in meaningful ways. It amplified Zan Times’ profile and opened doors to conversations and opportunities we had not accessed before. For example, Forbes invited our editor-in-chief to speak at one of their events this March, an invitation that came, in part, because of Sana’s award and the global attention it generated.

Jacobsen: You announced a 10-month paid fellowship for 10 Afghan women journalists inside Afghanistan. What skills and beats are prioritized? 

The Zan Times: For the Zan Times fellowship, we will be selecting 10 Afghan women journalists who currently live and work inside Afghanistan. Our priority is to reach provinces where there are no longer any active women journalists, places that have been completely silenced since the Taliban takeover. Bringing women back into journalism in those areas is central to the fellowship’s purpose.

We are also looking for applicants who already have some foundational reporting experience so that the training can meaningfully build on their existing skills. Journalists who have shown a commitment to documenting women’s lives and understand the sensitivity of reporting under gender apartheid will be strongly prioritized.

In terms of skills and beats, we will focus on investigative reporting on women’s rights, women’s health, education, and everyday survival under Taliban rule.

Above all, we aim to support women journalists who are determined to keep telling the stories of Afghan women, despite the risks, the silencing, and the complete erasure of women from public life.

Jacobsen: For the fellowship, how will you recruit and select fellows safely?

The Zan Times: We have designed the recruitment and selection process with safety at its core. First, we will carefully review each application form, paying close attention to the applicant’s answers, motivations, and understanding of the risks of working inside Afghanistan. We will then examine their previous work and verify the references they provide to confirm both credibility and safety.

Short-listed applicants will go through another test and a confidential interview, where we cross-check their answers and assess their ability to work securely under current conditions. This three-step process, application review, work verification, special test and interviews, helps us ensure that the fellowship is awarded to genuine journalists while keeping both the applicants and our team safe.

Once selected, all fellows will be assigned pen names to protect their identities throughout the program. We will also provide them with comprehensive digital-security and operational-security training, equipping them with the skills they need to minimize risk while participating in the fellowship and reporting.

Our goal is to select fellows safely, protect them throughout the fellowship, and ensure they can continue working without exposing themselves or their communities to harm.

Jacobsen: You’ve described building emergency capacity for journalists at risk. How are you structuring decision-making? 

The Zan Times: The Emergency Fund is designed as a safety net for journalists working with Zan Times who face sudden threats or crises. Decision-making is intentionally flexible, because every risk scenario in Afghanistan is different and often unfolds quickly. We rely on a case-by-case assessment, grounded in timely information and direct communication with our reporters.

Over the past four years, we have repeatedly had to place journalists on leave or help them relocate temporarily because of immediate security concerns. Those experiences shaped our approach. When a journalist’s safety becomes compromised, whether due to a particular report, changes in Taliban scrutiny, or threats in their local community, we evaluate the situation immediately and discreetly.

The Fund can be used in several scenarios:
• when a journalist must stop working or go into hiding due to a security incident;
• when they face sudden financial strain caused by emergency relocation or loss of income;
• when health needs arise as a result of stress, trauma, or security-related displacement.

Our editors are in continuous contact with staff inside the country, monitoring security situations and individual risk levels. This real-time awareness allows us to make informed decisions quickly and responsibly.

Jacobsen: You’ve positioned women’s journalism as central to democracy and human rights. What were significant stories indicative of this in 2025?

The Zan Times: In 2025, our newsroom produced a number of investigations that showed why women’s journalism is indispensable to documenting human-rights violations and holding power to account. Much of this work shed light on realities that would have remained invisible without women reporters who understand the depth of gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

One important series of reports focused on how girls and their families are quietly resisting the Taliban’s ban on education. Our reporting highlighted the networks of secret classrooms and radio-based learning that have emerged across the country, stories that demonstrated both the creativity and the courage of Afghan girls who refuse to disappear.

We also produced several investigations on refugees and deported women. These reports exposed how single women returned from Iran struggle to find housing, face discrimination from landlords, and are left without protection or social support. By documenting their daily obstacles, we showed how gender and displacement compound each other under Taliban rule.

Another key area of reporting examined the Taliban’s mahram restrictions, which have become one of the most suffocating policies for Afghan women. Our stories detailed how women unable to travel without a male guardian are being denied healthcare, blocked from work, and cut off from essential services, including lifesaving medical care. These investigations brought into focus the devastating, often life-threatening consequences of these policies.

The reporting our team produced in 2025 tried to ensure that women’s suffering under Taliban’s gender apartheid and women’s resistance to it is documented and highlighted.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Zan Times Team.

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