The Arab Media Startup Taking On Extremists

Founded by a Jordanian dissenter, Shezomedia is using satire to challenge extremism, censorship, and the patriarchy across the Arab world

Osama Essa was born into a home where tradition came first. Raised in a conservative Jordanian family and the eldest of six siblings, he inherited not only the cultural weight of his upbringing but the responsibility to carry it forward. His father, a well-regarded physician whose past was marked by proximity to conflict, loomed large in the household. Although his father’s work was humanitarian rather than ideological, it shaped a domestic atmosphere charged with expectations and boundaries.

Osama’s rebellion wasn’t overt at first. It was in the questions he asked, the freedoms he imagined, and his refusal to conform to the script laid out for him. Named after a historic Islamic warrior, he would go on to become one of the most outspoken liberal voices in Jordan—an irony not lost on his family or his detractors. While others in his community doubled down on doctrine, Osama consciously chose to champion the right to think freely, speak boldly, and live without shame.

In a country where eldest sons are expected to reinforce the family line, Osama did the opposite. He left a lasting mark on his sisters’ thinking and sense of possibility. When two of them chose to stop wearing the hijab, the response was swift and disapproving. But within the family, it was understood: Osama had made that possible. He hadn’t coerced or campaigned. He had simply lived differently, showing his sisters that they had the power to choose.

Over time, even their father—once the household’s most formidable enforcer of tradition—came to accept their decision, a profound shift that spoke to the long arc of influence Osama and his brothers had set in motion.

Today, his siblings are thriving in ways few would have predicted: one is a filmmaker, another a content creator at Osama’s media company, and a third is a schoolteacher known for encouraging students to question conventional wisdom. They are, in many ways, Osama’s most lasting work.

But Osama’s public legacy is Shezomedia—a bold, satirical, wildly popular platform that began in 2017 as a scrappy YouTube show called Schizophrenia, designed to poke holes in the Arab world’s double standards. By 2020, the show had ended, but the audience and the demand for its content remained. So Osama and his team did something bold: they turned their digital footprint into a full-fledged media company committed to challenging taboos, encouraging dialogue, and laughing in the face of censorship.

In 2022, Shezomedia weathered a critical transition. On the cusp of collapse, they received the funding needed to continue from a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in the Middle East. With renewed momentum, Shezomedia took off. Its programming—an electric mix of comedy, documentary, and public conversations—took off across Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, attracting millions of viewers.

Shezomedia doesn’t pull punches. Episodes explore refugee life, religious extremism, sex education, and women’s rights. One especially poignant installment examined the story of a young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the Islamic Republic morality police for letting her hair show beneath her headscarf. The episode went viral, catalyzing conversation and controversy in equal measure.

That kind of impact has not come without cost. In 2019, Osama received death threats that forced him to leave Jordan for the Netherlands. He returned months later with a new strategy: less direct confrontation, more community voice. Shezomedia’s content became more collaborative. That pivot has paid off, both in safety and scale.

Now, Osama dreams of taking Shezomedia offline—of building a brick-and-mortar cultural hub for artists, liberals, and free thinkers. A space where ideas aren’t just discussed but lived: through film, music, workshops, and unfiltered debate.

But dreams need funding. And Shezomedia, like so many independent media ventures, walks a tightrope between ambition and sustainability. Still, Osama and his team push forward.

“I’m not trying to change the whole region overnight,” he says. “I’m just creating a space where change is possible.”

In a part of the world where asking questions can lead to ostracism—or worse—Osama Essa has built a platform on a foundation of curiosity, criticism, and courage. He may be the black sheep of his family, but to thousands across the Arab world, he is an essential figure in the region’s ongoing struggle for intellectual freedom.

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