Category: World Service
Date: 04.05.2004
Printable version

BBC World Service has announced the appointment of a new Head of BBC Arabic, the oldest and largest of its 43 language services.

Hosam El Sokkari, the current Head of BBC Arabic Online, will take up the post of Head of BBC Arabic.

He is the first Arab to run the service since it began in 1938. He will start his appointment with a secondment to BBC News.

While he is away Liliane Landor, current Acting Head of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs, will be seconded from BBC News as interim Head to run the Arabic service.

"These appointments are key to implementing current BBC Arabic strategy, one of the aims of which is to greatly strengthen the ties between BBC News and the Arabic service. Hosam and Liliane will do this brilliantly," said Nigel Chapman, Acting Director of BBC World Service.

"Hosam El Sokkari has a strong track record of innovation in the Arabic service.

"He has led Arabic Online (bbcarabic.com) 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 BBC'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 BBC Arabic Online.

Liliane Landor was born in Lebanon and is a fluent Arabic speaker.

She joined the BBC 14 years ago after first working as an interpreter and a print journalist.

BBC 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 BBC Arabic Online is the leading news site in Arabic on the web and attracts around six million page impressions each month.

Notes to Editors

BBC Arabic is the leading international radio news service in Arabic and bbcarabic.com is the leading Arabic online news site.

BBC Arabic broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day, with news on the hour.

BBC 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, BBC broadcasts are heard on medium wave, and in key cities the BBC is available on FM.

The award-winning site bbcarabic.com also carries a live audio feed of BBC Arabic radio.