Rageh Omaar
Rageh Omaar | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, author |
Rageh Omaar (
Early life
Omaar was born in 1967 in Mogadishu to Abdullahi and Sahra Omaar. His father was an accountant who became a businessman, a representative of
]Omaar moved to the United Kingdom at the age of two. He has several siblings: his elder brother, Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar, was a former Foreign Minister of Somalia.[4]
Education
Omaar was educated at the
Journalism
General
Omaar began his journalistic career as a trainee for The Voice newspaper. In 1991, he moved to Ethiopia where he freelanced as a foreign correspondent, working mainly for the BBC World Service. A year later, Omaar returned to London to work as a producer and broadcast journalist for the BBC. He moved to South Africa after having been appointed the BBC's Africa correspondent. Omaar's wife and children were based there through 2004, and his regular commuting made domestic life a challenge.[5]
His career highlights include reporting live on the conflicts in
BBC
Omaar covered the Iraq invasion for the weekday BBC news bulletins and BBC News. Many of his broadcasts were syndicated across the United States, where he became known as the Scud Stud.[6]
Omaar has written a book about his time as the BBC's Iraq correspondent called Revolution Day. The book deals with the effects of the
Explaining why he eventually left the BBC, Omaar suggested that he wanted to operate independently and to take on assignments for people he wished to collaborate with. He also suggested that the BBC working environment was somewhat exclusivist on a class basis, and that he was guilty of this as well to some degree as a consequence of his public school upbringing.[7]
Additionally, Omaar has expressed regret about the way in which he covered the invasion of Iraq during his time as a BBC correspondent. He suggested that he and his colleagues did pieces on Saddam Hussein, his regime and weapons inspectors, giving little coverage to the Iraqi people.[7] Interviewed in John Pilger's documentary The War You Don't See (2010), Omaar also lamented that "one didn't press the most uncomfortable buttons hard enough" and called the coverage "a giant echo chamber".[8]
Al Jazeera
In September 2006, Omaar joined Al Jazeera English.[9] He served as a Middle Eastern correspondent for its London Division.[3]
During his time with the news organization, Omaar presented the nightly weekday documentary series Witness.[9] He also hosted the monthly The Rageh Omaar Report, his own investigative documentaries.[3]
ITV News
In January 2013, it was announced that Omaar would be joining ITV News as a special correspondent.[10] He was promoted the following year to ITV News' International Affairs Editor.[11]
Since October 2015, alongside his duties as International Affairs Editor, Rageh has been a Deputy Newscaster of ITV News at Ten.
Since September 2017 Omaar has occasionally presented the ITV Lunchtime News, including the ITV News London Lunchtime Bulletin, and the ITV Evening News.
Awards and nominations
In 2003, Omaar was the recipient of an Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy award for the best TV journalist.[9]
In 2008, he was also presented the Arab Media Watch Award for excellence in journalism.[12]
In January 2014 and 2015, Omaar was nominated for the Services to Media award at the British Muslim Awards.[13][14]
Personal life
Omaar is married to Georgiana Rose "Nina" Montgomery-Cuninghame, the daughter of
He maintains close contact with his family in Somaliland, is an activist for the Somali community, and regularly attends its lectures and events.[1]
Other works
Television
- An Islamic History of Europe,[15] TV documentary for BBC Four : August 2005
- The Miracles of Jesus,[16] TV documentary for BBC One : beginning on 6 August 2006
- The Dead Sea Scrolls. TV documentary BBC Four (Feb 2007)
- Rageh Inside Iran,[17] TV documentary for BBC Four (Feb 2007)
- Islam in America,[18] TV documentary for Al Jazeera English : October 2008
- Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth, a three part Rivers of Bloodspeech as a starting point (7 to 21 April 2008)
- The Vicar of Baghdad,[19] TV documentary ITV1 (2008)
- Pakistan's War. TV documentary for Al Jazeera English (Mid-Winter Production 2008/09)
- Iran Season,[20] TV documentary for Al Jazeera English: January 2009
- Race and Intelligence: Science's last taboo. TV documentary for Channel 4 : October 2009.
- BBC 2 9 -10 pm. People on the programme included Karen Armstrong.
- BBC1: 12 April 2012
- The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors, BBC2, September 2013
Books
- Revolution Day: The Real Story of the Battle for Iraq, ISBN 0-14-101716-3
- Only Half of Me: Being a Muslim in Britain, Viking (2006), ISBN 0-670-91509-2
DVD
- The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors (region 2)
References
- ^ a b c "My week: Rageh Omaar". The Guardian. 12 November 2006. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
- ^ "Rageh Omaar: 'Nothing prepares you for becoming a parent. I just sobbed'". The Guardian. 20 October 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Rageh Omaar". Prime Performers Agency. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ "Somali cabinet named". Reuters. 21 January 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
- Times Online. London. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
- ^ "ITV fails in bid to woo Rageh Omaar". Broadcastnow. 26 February 2004. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ Media Guardian.
- ^ John Pilger "Why are wars not being reported honestly?", The Guardian, 10 December 2010
- ^ a b c "Rageh Omaar - Best TV Journalist Award Winner 2002-2003". Emmainteractive.com. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ Plunkett, John (8 January 2013). "Rageh Omaar joins ITV News". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- ^ "Rageh Omaar goes beyond the headlines for new ITV current affairs series". ITV Press Centre. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ Matthias, Sue (May 2008). "Our writers win more awards". New Statesman. 137 (4898): 6.
- ^ "British Muslim Awards 2014 winners". Asian Image. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ "British Muslim Awards 2015 finalists unveiled". Asian Image. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ "BBC iPlayer - BBC Four". BBC. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived 22 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Behind the Rhetoric The Real Iran BBC Documentary". Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Islam in America - General". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ "Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East". Frrme.org. 26 July 2014. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ "Iran season - General". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ "BBC One - Panorama, Ivory Wars: Out of Africa". BBC. 25 May 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
External links
- Rageh Omaar at itv.com
- Rageh Omaar on Twitter
- Guardian Interview
- BBC News: Our man in Baghdad
- BBC News: BBC's Rageh Omaar signs book deal
- BBC News: Reporter Rageh Omaar takes new role
- Rageh Omaar to explore Jesus miracles
- Rageh Omaar on the Muck Rack journalist listing site