New show hosted by anchor Amr Khalil to air Saturday evenings
Dubai, UAE - Wednesday, January 19th 2011 [ME NewsWire]
Building on the success of Alhurra’s flagship primetime show Al Youm, the network is expanding its programming to include a weekly special, The Best of Al Youm. Each week, The Best of Al Youm will showcase the preeminent reports that aired on Al Youm. It will highlight stories on health, education, technology, social and cultural issues that have an impact on the region. The hour-long program will launch on January 15th and air Saturdays at 21:00 GMT.
The Best of Al Youmwill broadcast from Cairo and be anchored by Amr Khalil. He will present, in his unique style, some of the most prominent stories, interviews and subjects. The Best of Al Youm will incorporate reports from Al Youm’s five studios in Beirut, Dubai, Jerusalem, Cairo and Washington, D.C.
The idea for the format came from the numerous repeat requests that were posted by fans on Al Youm’s Facebook page. “Responding to these requests had become an absolute imperative,” said the show’s Executive Producer Fran Mires. “We owed it to our fans and we also felt that select reports deserved to be aired again. Al Youm is a show that is part of everyday life in the Middle East, and our dialogue with the person in the street is an essential part of its success. Our fans’ requests were the inspiration for The Best of Al Youm.”
Topics that will appear on The Best of Al Youm will include a report from Iran on women who are using bicycles as transportation even though it is forbidden. A story from Egypt that examines the health risks when there is an inter-family marriage; as well as a profile of the Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters which aims to provide programming on all faiths and spirituality.
Alhurra’s daily flagship show, Al Youm (Arabic for Today), is the only program to broadcast simultaneously from five countries in three continents. The three-hour program focuses on human interest stories from the Middle East, U.S. and around the world. This allows viewers to see how issues not only affect the people in their country, but those who live in the countries around them. Al Youm was named a 2010 finalist for the New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards ® for its report on child labor conditions in Egypt.
Al Youmis co-anchored by Engy Anwar and Ahmed El Naggar, who are joined by Mona Wehbi in Beirut, Amr Khalil in Cairo and Eman Haddad in Jerusalem, along with news updates from Alhurra’s headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. Viewers can follow Al Youm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/alyoumshowor watch Al Youm at www.alhurra.com.
Recent surveys by international research companies such as ACNielsen show that Alhurra has consistently averaged approximately 26 million weekly viewers for the last three years. Alhurra is broadcast on the Nilesat and Arabsat satellites in the Middle East and the Hotbird satellite system in Europe. Alhurra is operated by the non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves oversight and as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters. For more information on Alhurra go to www.alhurra.com
Contacts
Deirdre Kline
Director of Communications
Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.
001-703-852-9250
dkline@alhurra.com
Tanya Kassab
Senior PR Executive
Euro RSCG Corporate Communications ME
00971-4-3664193
Tanya.Kassab@eurorscgme.com
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