Rageh Omaar

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Rageh Omar

Born July 19, 1967 (1967-07-19) (age 40)
Flag of Somalia Mogadishu, Somalia
Occupation BBC reporter (2000 - 2006), author, news presenter, columnist and Al Jazeera English reporter (2006 - present)

Rageh Omaar (Somali: Raage Awmaar, born 19 July 1967) is a British television news presenter and writer of Somali origin. His latest book Only Half of Me deals with the tensions between these two sides of his identity. He used to be a BBC world affairs correspondent, where he made his name reporting from Iraq. He moved to a new post at Al Jazeera English in September 2006, where he currently presents the nightly weekday documentary series Witness.

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[edit] Early life

Born in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Rageh is a son of a wealthy businessman from the republic of Somaliland. His family is originally from Hargeisa in Somaliland. Rageh moved to Britain when he was 2 and was educated at two independent schools: at the Dragon School in Oxford, Oxfordshire and Cheltenham College in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, before reading Modern History at New College at the University of Oxford. His career highlights include reporting live from war-torn Somalia and Iraq.

[edit] Journalist career

He began his journalistic career as a trainee for The Voice newspaper, and in 1991 he moved to Ethiopia where he freelanced as a foreign correspondent, working mainly for the BBC World Service. A year later, he returned to London to work as a producer and broadcast journalist for the BBC. He moved to South Africa after being appointed the BBC's Africa correspondent; his wife and children were based there through 2004, and his regular commuting made domestic life difficult.[1]

[edit] Coverage of the Iraq invasion

During his coverage of the Iraq invasion, almost 90% of the population watched him on either the weekday BBC news bulletins, or on News 24.[citation needed] Many of his broadcasts were syndicated across the U.S., where the Washington Post labelled him the Scud Stud. He has written a book about his time as the BBC's Iraq correspondent called Revolution Day. The book deals with the effects of the Saddam Hussein regime, UN sanctions and the Iraq War on Iraqi civilians.

He is the recipient of an Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy (EMMA) award for the best media correspondent.[citation needed]

[edit] Regrets over Iraq coverage

Rageh has expressed regret about the way in which he covered the invasion of Iraq during his time as a BBC correspondent: "We ran around, we did pieces on weapons inspectors, Saddam, the regime, and almost nothing about Iraqi people."[2]

Indeed, Media Lens used part of a Rageh Omaar report on Baghdad falling to US forces (in which they said he 'all but swooned at the feet of the invading army'), to criticise the pro-war line of the British media:

"In my mind's eye, I often asked myself: what would it be like when I saw the first British or American soldiers, after six years of reporting Iraq? And nothing, nothing, came close to the actual, staggering reaction to seeing American soldiers -- young men from Nevada and California -- just rolling down in tanks. And they're here with us now in the hotel, in the lifts and the lobbies. It was a moment I'd never, ever prepared myself for."[3]

[edit] Criticism of the BBC

Explaining why he left the BBC, he stated: "I wanted to be an independent journalist who did projects for the people I wanted. I wanted to be free". On being asked if he could have had more influence by staying he replied: "I don't think so. Many people from many backgrounds at the BBC have tried."

He has also referred to the BBC as a "white man's club":

"It's the mentality. I'm in some ways guilty of this - I went to public school, I went to Oxford. I speak at a lot of schools with Somali kids and they say, "How do I become a journalist? We may be from the same community, but I don't have your accent." So it's a class thing rather than about being white necessarily. It's much more subtle."[2]

[edit] Personal life

In 2000 he married Georgiana Rose "Nina" Montgomery-Cuninghame, the daughter of Sir John Montgomery-Cuninghame of Corsehill, Bt. They live in Chiswick, West London, with their children Fathi, 6, and Yusuf, 4, and Zack 1 (ages as of April 2007)

He is now a Middle Eastern correspondent for the UK Broadcasting Division of Al Jazeera News.

[edit] Quotations

  • May 2006, Interview with The Independent: In the eyes of Rageh Omaar, Western news organisations are perpetrating a "fraud" on their viewers with their misleading coverage of the war in Iraq, the conflict in which he established himself as an internationally-recognised journalist.[4]
  • May 2006, BBC One's This Week: When I reported from Baghdad, I never doubted that the invasion would end in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. What I was sceptical about was what would follow afterwards. There was a honeymoon period, and it lasted 24 hours, during that memorable day when the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down. But that ended the day afterwards, and everything started unravelling from that moment on.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Other Works

[edit] Television

[edit] Books

[edit] References

  1. ^ Whitworth, Damian (February 7, 2006). Farewell to the front line (for now). Times Online. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
  2. ^ a b Pool, Hannah (February 15, 2007). Question Time: Rageh Omaar. Media Guardian.
  3. ^ Media Lens Alert: Vindication - A Statue Falls. Media Lens (April 11, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
  4. ^ Rageh Omaar: The Scud Stud aims for truth (May 15, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
  5. ^ Rageh Omaar. BBC (May 26, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-27.

[edit] External links

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