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Al Jazeera Star Correspondent Rejoins NBC
Ayman Mohyeldin, a star Al Jazeera English correspondent, is rejoining NBC News, the news organization where he started 10 years ago.
Back then he was a desk assistant for NBC in Washington; now he’ll be a foreign correspondent for NBC, based in Cairo and covering the whole of the Middle East.
“My decision to return to the NBC family was a personal one,” Mr. Mohyeldin wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “With historic developments unfolding in the Middle East and the broader Arab world, I couldn’t possibly pass on the opportunity to report these historic times to an American audience with the hopes of making a positive difference in the way the U.S. understands the region, challenging stereotypes and misunderstandings.”
Most recently based in Cairo, Mr. Mohyeldin has worked at Al Jazeera English since its inception in 2006. His move is notable because he was widely lauded for his reports from Egypt during the revolution there earlier this year.
Mr. Mohyeldin’s reports helped Al Jazeera English gain visibility; GQ magazine earlier this year called him “the closest the network has to some rough approximation of an Anderson Cooper.” Al Jazeera English has fought for cable and satellite carriage in the United States this year by citing the work of Mr. Mohyeldin and others.
Though his departure is a setback, it may also be evidence of acceptance of the Qatar-based network by American networks. In his Facebook post, Mr. Mohyeldin said the network had helped shed light on neglected regions of the world “while challenging the stereotypes, misperceptions and misinformation that comes out of these places.”
He will start at NBC on Sept. 20. Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, said in a statement, “An extremely passionate and hard working journalist and producer, Ayman has a great deal of experience in various newsrooms covering major conflicts, and we think he will be an excellent addition to our team of correspondents.”
Brian Stelter
New York Times