TBS visited Qatar to touch base with the granddaddy of the Arab all-news satellite channels, al-Jazeera, which, at seven years of age and with much water (and a fair amount of blood) under the bridge, is in a reflective mood. A lot has changed since Al Jazeera first showed the …
Read More »Cyba Audi
While TBS was visiting CNBC Arabiya, Cyba Audi was on the monitors all over the building presenting her show Kalam al Suq. Later we caught up with her for a chat. TBS: Tell us what you were doing before? Audi: At CNBC Arabiya I present two shows, Kalam al Suq ("Market Talk") …
Read More »Interview with Ian Ritchie, CEO of Associated Press Television News (APTN)
Schleifer: How would you describe the particular challenge (as the leading global TV news agency) of providing coverage of this Gulf War? Ritchie: With this one you need to be live or very close to live. The broadcasters expect to see pictures immediately and our biggest investment before the conflict was in …
Read More »Interview with Saleh Negm, Head of News, Al Arabiya
It was difficult to have more than a fleeting moment with Saleh Negm, Al Arabiya's head of news, during the first week of the war. He was dashing about, massaging into effective function a new, untried 24/7 broadcast news organization, and working 18 hours a day at it. And if …
Read More »Interview with Nart Y. Bouran, Director of the Abu Dhabi TV News Center
Nart Bouran is one of the most strikingly professional people in the Arab satellite television news business. He joined Abu Dhabi TV six months ago after a two-year stint as DG at Jordan TV. Before that Bouran was with APTN in London as regional executive for the Middle East and …
Read More »Interview with Ali Al Ahmed, Director, Abu Dhabi TV
The last two times I met Ali Al Ahmed he was an important executive at E-Vision, Ittesalat's cable network, which to a great degree had to struggle from within a telecom rather than competitive broadcasting culture. I was struck at the time by his vision and obvious energy that I …
Read More »Interview with Ibrahim Helal, Chief Editor, Al Jazeera
In a rapidly changing world of satellite television news there is one constant - Ibrahim Helal the chief editor (news director in American parlance) of Al Jazeera, who never seems to leave the News Center and must have secretly married the channel in some arcane ceremony half a decade ago, …
Read More »Interview with Mohamed Jasim Al Ali, Managing Director, Al Jazeera
Schleifer: How is Al Jazeera's coverage different from past years? Al Ali: The big difference is that with each passing day we acquire experience. This year we were able to apply our past experience by undertaking longer term and better planning-where to put our journalists, how to get into difficult, even dangerous, …
Read More »Interview with First Lieutenant Josh Rushing
This interview with First Lieutenant Josh Rushing (U.S. Marines), a spokesman and Public Information Officer at Coalition Central Command (Centcom), was conducted by telephone on April 8,2002 and incorporates elements of an earlier interview conducted in person by TBS chief editor Schleifer, who traveled to the Gulf (Doha, Dubai, and …
Read More »Super News Center Setting Up in London for Al-Hayat and LBC: An Interview with Jihad Khazen and Salah Nemett
Jihad Khazen has one of the most impressive track records in Arab journalism, both in Arabic and in English. Khazen was managing editor of Beirut's English-language newspaper, The Daily Star, until the civil war put that paper out of existence, then managing editor of Arab News in Jeddah, from where …
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