Thursday, January 29, 2009

How al-Arabiya Got The Obama Interview

President Barack Obama is interviewed in Washington by al-Arabiya on Jan. 26
Al-Arabiya / AP

Form Time Magazine:

How did a journalist for an Arab-language broadcaster score the first television interview granted by President Barack Obama? Well, at first, Hisham Melhem, the Washington bureau chief for al-Arabiya, a Saudi-backed news channel headquartered in Dubai, thought he was getting someone else. Not that he hadn't tried — like everyone else in Washington — to snag the historic first.

When Melhem's bosses in Dubai got a feeler from the White House on Sunday, it seemed that al-Arabiya was about to get an exclusive interview not with Obama but with new Middle East envoy George Mitchell. The previous Friday, Melhem had begun pressing for an interview with Mitchell after learning from sources that the former U.S. Senator and Northern Ireland peace negotiator was heading to the Middle East almost immediately. The White House told al-Arabiya execs to be ready for a major interview on Monday.

Read more ....

My Comment: Let us hope that some good comes out of it. I doubt it .... but lets still stay optimistic.

No comments:

Post a Comment