Category: World
Service
Date: 04.05.2004
Printable version
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service has announced the appointment of a new Head of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
Arabic, the oldest and largest of its 43 language services.
Hosam El Sokkari, the current Head of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic Online,
will take up the post of Head of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic.
He is the first Arab to run the service since it began in 1938. He
will start his appointment with a secondment to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ News.
While he is away Liliane Landor, current Acting Head of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service
News and Current Affairs, will be seconded from ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ News as interim
Head to run the Arabic service.
"These appointments are key to implementing current ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic
strategy, one of the aims of which is to greatly strengthen the ties
between ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ News and the Arabic service. Hosam and Liliane will do this
brilliantly," said Nigel Chapman, Acting Director of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World
Service.
"Hosam El Sokkari has a strong track record of innovation in the
Arabic service.
"He has led Arabic Online ()
with great imagination and success. He recently introduced interactive
radio programming, which caught the imagination of many in the Arab
world.
"He played a vital role during the Iraq war in generating vibrant
debate on radio and online and involving our audiences in the heart
of our output.
"Liliane Landor, with her strong track record as a leader and
wide experience of editing the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s flagship international news programmes,
will bring flair and drive to the job of developing a contemporary news
and information channel in Arabic.
"She is brilliantly positioned to do this, with her understanding
of the Arab world and her broad editorial experience at the heart of
the world's leading news organisation," continued Nigel Chapman.
Hosam El Sokkari was born and educated in Egypt. He worked in Finland
and Germany as a cartoonist and newspaper journalist before joining
Deutsche Welle as a correspondent in 1988.
He joined the Arabic service in 1994 and in 1999 he was appointed Head
of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic Online.
Liliane Landor was born in Lebanon and is a fluent Arabic speaker.
She joined the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ 14 years ago after first working as an interpreter
and a print journalist.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic has reporters across the Arab world and broadcasts around
the clock.
Soon after the start of the Iraq war in March 2003 it opened a new
production centre in Cairo and now produces five hours of programming
from Cairo each day.
The award winning ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic Online is the leading news site in Arabic
on the web and attracts around six million page impressions each month.
Notes to Editors
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic is the leading international radio news service in Arabic
and
is the leading Arabic online news site.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day, with news on the hour.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic broadcasts to the whole Arab world on short wave and through
digital audio channels on the principal satellites covering the Arab
world.
In most of the eastern Arab world, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ broadcasts are heard on medium
wave, and in key cities the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is available on FM.
The award-winning site bbcarabic.com also carries a live audio feed
of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic radio.
