Sahan Journal founder, CEO Mukhtar Ibrahim stepping down

CATHY WURZER: Over the past few years, you've heard stories on our airwaves from reporters with the Sahan Journal. It's a Minnesota news organization dedicated to immigrants and communities of color. The person who created Sahan Journal used to work here at MPR News, Mukhtar Ibrahim. Mukhtar is stepping down after five years of leading the operation. Mukhtar Ibrahim made the announcement this morning, and he is on the line. Mukhtar, oh my gosh. I almost fell off my chair when I heard you're leaving Sahan Journal.

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: Oh, Cathy, good to talk to you. Yeah, thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Mukhtar, this is a huge, huge decision on your part. What went into it?

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: As you know, Cathy, I launched Sahan Journal just right before the pandemic. It was just me trying to understand nonprofit fundraising and trying to get the operations off the ground. After the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, everything just took off on our side. We put a lot of investment. We hired a lot of people to do this amazing work of telling the stories of Minnesota's communities of color.

And alongside that, I also am a father of three young daughters. We welcomed a baby into our family in June. And as you can imagine, things have been really busy on both the organizational level and in my family. And based on everything that has been going on in my family, I decided now is the time to make a space for a new leader to come in and take the organization to the next level.

Sahan Journal is in a very strong position. It's a successful organization. We have loyal and engaged readers. We have a lot of support from our communities and from the philanthropic community. We are-- everything I know about the organization tells me now is the right time to make this decision and make a space for a new leader.

CATHY WURZER: My gosh, it's been so interesting to watch you grow Sahan Journal from a staff of, oh my gosh, I think it was four people, and you had a budget of, at that point, $600,000. Which was substantial, you know, in 2020. You have 20 people now. You've got a budget of about $2.5 million. When you look back at what you've done, Mukhtar, have you accomplished what you set out to do?

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: When I launched this, I had no roadmap. I had no plan. So I wasn't expecting that the organization will come this far in terms of funding and the talent that join us. But this is needed. This organization is playing an important role in our state. We are telling the stories that you don't find in other places. And the support and everything, the resources that we have right now, makes everything that we do possible. And that's because of the support of our leaders, foundations, businesses that advertise with us. But back to your question, I think I have-- I never imagined that it will grow this big in a very short period, and I'm very grateful for all the support that we have received that made that possible.

CATHY WURZER: Do you think Sahan Journal, Mukhtar, has pushed other news organizations to cover communities of color better?

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: Absolutely. As you know, I spent all my career in local newsrooms. I have a degree in journalism. And I am a news consumer at the same time. I'm not just a journalist, but I also see what other reporters are doing, how they cover communities of color, and that shaped my thinking around how we cover people.

And since we came into this space-- and also the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd really revealed and made open what-- the whole journalism place, we sometimes contribute to the problems that we cover in our operations and how we put together stories. And since we came into the scene, we have proven that journalism needs to reimagine how it gathers reporting, how it talks to people, how it establishes trust in communities.

And that helps us to tell the most accurate stories about the communities. We need to reflect the voices and experiences of everyone. We cannot minimize the stories of people. We have to make sure we are deepening the trust and getting the experiences and how communities are living their lives. And we cannot just go into a community when big, breaking news happens or people murdered or a tragedy. We have to be present in the community so that we can surface stories that people are interested in, that meets their needs, that make them aware about their lived experiences.

And at the same time, they want to make sure they are civically engaged. And if we are not doing that, we are not playing our role. So yeah, definitely since we came into the media space, we have proven that journalism that centers on the lives and experiences of communities of color is very much needed, especially around this time in 2022 and 2023, and what we have seen in Minnesota, right? So Sahan Journal has been playing a big role in shifting and refocusing on the lens on this community so that we can make sure we are prioritizing the needs and experiences.

CATHY WURZER: You have a really amazing staff, Mukhtar. You have grown that staff, and they've done excellent stories on a variety of topics. I'm wondering, does some-- one of your projects, a specific story, stand out to you as really underscoring what it's all about for Sahan Journal?

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: I would say everything that we do. And our reporters cover a lot of communities, and I'm really proud of every story that they produce. We have amazing talent, as you said. We have young, diverse reporters who are producing journalism that you want to read. I'm really proud of. And that's the type of journalism that I was looking for when I was at other places that I used to work. And it's journalism that I hope our peers can also learn something from when they come to our website and see the diversity and they see the faces of all Minnesotans. I hope we can see the same thing in other newsrooms in our state.

CATHY WURZER: Say, before you go, I mentioned, of course, that you were a reporter here at MPR. You went to the Star Tribune. I understand you're at the University of Minnesota completing an MBA right now? You're not going to step away from journalism, are you?

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: I am not. I will actually be more-- I care about local journalism, especially journalism for diverse communities, and I hope to play a role in making sure I am doing that work even after I step down from my role. The reason I'm stepping down is to actually make sure I am bringing someone else, to make sure they are-- we cultivate more leaders who can run newsrooms and learn something from what I have been doing throughout the last couple of years. So I will be here to also guide and provide anything that that person needs from me. And yeah, I will be involved in some ways. And this work is very important to me, and I hope to continue doing it good.

CATHY WURZER: Good. Mukhtar, it's been a pleasure. It's been just such a joy to watch you grow the Sahan Journal from that little idea that you had to now a full-fledged newsroom. So congratulations and job well done.

MUKHTAR IBRAHIM: Thank you so much,. Cathy really appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: You take care of yourself. Mukhtar Ibrahim has been with us. He's the publisher, the founder, the CEO of Sahan Journal. That's a Minnesota news organization dedicated to immigrants and communities of color.