“THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: VIEWS FROM THE ARAB WORLD”
Chair: Ms. Barbara G.B. Ferguson − Washington Bureau Chief, Arab News; Co-Chair, International Correspondents Committee, The National Press Club, Washington, D.C.; author, “Country Reports” on Bahrain, Morocco and Kazakhstan for the Washington Times; embedded war correspondent during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990-1991 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
Speakers:
Mr. Ibrahim Helal − Deputy Managing Editor, Al Jazeera Satellite Television, English; former Deputy Managing Director, News and Programs; former Middle East and North Africa Project Director, BBC World Service Trust, responsible for the training and development of Arab media organizations; Editor-in-Chief, Al-Jazeera Arabic Channel (2001-2004); former Head of News, Abu Dhabi TV (2000-2001).
Mr. Hisham Melhem − Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-UAE based satellite channel; former host of Al-Arabiya’s “Across the Ocean”, a weekly current affairs program on U.S.-Arab relations; Correspondent, Annahar, the leading Lebanese daily.
Ms. Nadia Bilbassy-Charters – Chief Correspondent, Middle East Broadcasting Center, Washington, D.C., covering the White House and the State Department; formerly Al-Arabiya Television Diplomatic Correspondent; former Bureau Chief for Middle East Broadcasting Center based in Nairobi, Kenya covering conflicts across the African continent; formerly with both Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) and Agence France Press (AFP).