Ayman Mohyeldin
Encyclopedia
Ayman Mohyeldin is an Arab-American journalist based in Los Angeles for NBC
. Previously he worked for Al Jazeera
and CNN
, Ayman was one of the first western journalists allowed to enter and report on the handing over and trial of the deposed President of Iraq
Saddam Hussein
by the Iraqi Interim Government
for crimes against humanity. More recently, Ayman has covered the December 2008 Israeli Airstrikes over Gaza. He became the first journalist to report on the intricate network of tunnels that were once used for smuggling of weapons and people across the Egypt
ian-Gaza
border and are now a vital route into Gaza
for medicine, food and fuel supplies.
, Egypt
to an Egypt
ian father, and a Palestinian
mother. He grew up in Egypt, and the United States
. He has lived extensively in the Arab World
with two years in Iraq
(2003–2005) as a foreign news producer with CNN.. Mohyeldin received his undergraduate education at American University
in Washington D.C., earning a BA in International Relations with a focus on the European Union
. He received an MA in International Politics with a focus on Peace and Conflict Resolution. His graduate thesis entitled "The News Media Paradigm in the War on Terrorism" was accepted by the International Association of Media Researcher's Conference in Barcelona, Spain (2002)
Mohyeldin coverage of major news events in the Arab World and Middle East include the Iraq War, the first multi-candidate presidential Egyptian Elections in 2005, Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
and the 2005 Palestinian elections in the Gaza Strip. Mohyeldin has traveled extensively in the Arab World and Middle East covering the Sharm al-Sheikh resort bombing (July 2005) and the Jordan Hotel bombings (November 2005).
As a producer, Mohyeldin became the first journalist to enter one of Libya
's nuclear research facilities after producing Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi
's first interview announcing Libya
would abandon all WMD
programs. Mohyeldin's work in the CNN documentary "Iraq:progress report" about the daily struggles of Iraqis during the war was nominated for an Emmy Award. He served as an associate producer for the NBC News Special that also received Emmy nominations for "Ship at War: Inside the Carrier Stennis" and "Inside the Real West Wing." Mohyeldin has also covered the annual Muslim Pilgrimage (Hajj
) to Mecca and was involved in the production of CNN
specials "Islam: The Struggle Within" and "Hajj: A Spiritual Journey."
for Al Jazeera English. On January 28, 2011 Ayman broadcast from the Al Jazeera news building in Cairo for several hours straight reporting on the Egyptian protests, as Protesters and Egyptian Police battled for control of the 6th October Bridge. On January 30, Anis El Fekki of the Egyptian Interior Ministry revoked Al Jazeera's broadcast license
and forced the closure of their Cairo bureau; claiming the network was conspiring with opposition groups
to overthrow the government. Ayman was one of five Al Jazeera journalists arrested and briefly detained by Egyptian Authorities the following day, after the network refused to cease broadcasting upon the loss of their accreditation.
On February 6, 2011 Mohyeldin was again arrested by the Egyptian military upon trying to enter Tahrir square. He was released 9 hours later.
On September 20, 2011, Mohyeldin joined NBC, where his career began.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Previously he worked for Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Ayman was one of the first western journalists allowed to enter and report on the handing over and trial of the deposed President of Iraq
President of Iraq
The President of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The President is elected by the Council of...
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
by the Iraqi Interim Government
Iraqi Interim Government
The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...
for crimes against humanity. More recently, Ayman has covered the December 2008 Israeli Airstrikes over Gaza. He became the first journalist to report on the intricate network of tunnels that were once used for smuggling of weapons and people across the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian-Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
border and are now a vital route into Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
for medicine, food and fuel supplies.
Early life
Mohyeldin was born in CairoCairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to an Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian father, and a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
mother. He grew up in Egypt, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He has lived extensively in the Arab World
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
with two years in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
(2003–2005) as a foreign news producer with CNN.. Mohyeldin received his undergraduate education at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
in Washington D.C., earning a BA in International Relations with a focus on the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. He received an MA in International Politics with a focus on Peace and Conflict Resolution. His graduate thesis entitled "The News Media Paradigm in the War on Terrorism" was accepted by the International Association of Media Researcher's Conference in Barcelona, Spain (2002)
Career
Mohyeldin began his career in journalism working at NBC, as a desk assistant for the Washington D.C. bureau. Mohyeldin first major assignments happened shortly after 9/11. In an interview with PRWeek, Ayman describes the opportunities that arose in the aftermath of 9/11: "There was a real shortage of people with language skills or expertise in the Middle East. Just because of my language skills and the timing, so to speak, I got a lot of experience. I was thrown into a mix of things that normally desk assistants at my level would not have gotten. I started working on some big pieces that had to do with investigating 9/11 and all kinds of international terrorist connections... I was doing translation mostly, but I was also developing themes or threads to stories that either had some Middle East connection to them or some type of Arabic language skills required. So it was an unbelievable experience at a really young age."Mohyeldin coverage of major news events in the Arab World and Middle East include the Iraq War, the first multi-candidate presidential Egyptian Elections in 2005, Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and the 2005 Palestinian elections in the Gaza Strip. Mohyeldin has traveled extensively in the Arab World and Middle East covering the Sharm al-Sheikh resort bombing (July 2005) and the Jordan Hotel bombings (November 2005).
As a producer, Mohyeldin became the first journalist to enter one of Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
's nuclear research facilities after producing Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
's first interview announcing Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
would abandon all WMD
WMD
WMD may refer to:* Weapon of mass destruction, a term used to describe munitions with the capacity to kill large numbers of human beings indiscriminately* Weighted mean difference, a measure in statistical meta-analysis...
programs. Mohyeldin's work in the CNN documentary "Iraq:progress report" about the daily struggles of Iraqis during the war was nominated for an Emmy Award. He served as an associate producer for the NBC News Special that also received Emmy nominations for "Ship at War: Inside the Carrier Stennis" and "Inside the Real West Wing." Mohyeldin has also covered the annual Muslim Pilgrimage (Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
) to Mecca and was involved in the production of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
specials "Islam: The Struggle Within" and "Hajj: A Spiritual Journey."
2011 Egyptian revolution
Mohyeldin covered the 2011 Egyptian revolution2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
for Al Jazeera English. On January 28, 2011 Ayman broadcast from the Al Jazeera news building in Cairo for several hours straight reporting on the Egyptian protests, as Protesters and Egyptian Police battled for control of the 6th October Bridge. On January 30, Anis El Fekki of the Egyptian Interior Ministry revoked Al Jazeera's broadcast license
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
and forced the closure of their Cairo bureau; claiming the network was conspiring with opposition groups
Opposition (politics)
In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government , party or group in political control of a city, region, state or country...
to overthrow the government. Ayman was one of five Al Jazeera journalists arrested and briefly detained by Egyptian Authorities the following day, after the network refused to cease broadcasting upon the loss of their accreditation.
On February 6, 2011 Mohyeldin was again arrested by the Egyptian military upon trying to enter Tahrir square. He was released 9 hours later.
On September 20, 2011, Mohyeldin joined NBC, where his career began.
External links
- Al Jazeera English
- Youtube channel of Al Jazeera English
- Twitter page of Ayman Mohyeldin
- The Dangers and Difficulties of Reporting from Gaza - video by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- Fan Site