Sky News has appointed Nart Bouran as director of news for the 24-hour Arabic rolling news channel it plans to launch with Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Bouran joins Sky News Arabia from Thomson Reuters where he was director of Television for the Reuters News Agency.
In his new role Bouran will have overall responsibility for the channel including delivering its editorial standards and business goals following launch in Spring, 2012.
John Ryley, head of Sky News, said: ‘Sky News Arabia promises to deliver news to the MENA region in a fresh and modern way.
‘Nart’s huge experience in working on major stories around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, will ensure we do just that.”
In November, Sky announced that it had entered a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corp – a private investment firm owned by Mansour – to launch Sky News Arabia.
Adrian Wells, previously Sky News’ head of international news, was appointed to work with the ADMIC team to launch the channel ahead of the appointment of a director of news.
Bouran has more than 20 years journalism experience having worked extensively across the Middle East covering major stories in countries such as Iraq, Algeria, Libya and Yemen, as well as the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Former roles have included director general of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation, and director of news for Abu Dhabi TV where he spearheaded their acclaimed coverage of the war in Iraq in 2003.
Bouran said: ‘Our aim is to offer a fresh and exciting channel with a new approach to covering news and analysis which will make Sky News Arabia the must-view channel across the MENA region.”
Sky said this morning that Bouran’s appointment would be the first in a series for the new channel which intended to hire around 180 multimedia journalists who will be based in new studios in Abu Dhabi’s twofour54 media zone.
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