There are 210 local television news broadcast markets throughout the US, according to TV audience research company, Nielsen.
From North Platte, Nebraska with a TV viewing audience of 14,000, to New York City where there are about 7.5 million people watching, these markets serve increasingly diverse demographics in terms of race, ethnicity and age range.
For all the diversity, it's still very rare to see a broadcast reporter wearing a hijab
Within these networks, there are about 52,000 broadcast reporters and correspondents who share news and inform those audiences, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.
Those TV news reporters, like their increasingly diverse audiences, often come from different backgrounds. Gone are the similar-sounding accents and pseudonyms sometimes encouraged by news managers to make reporters sound more memorable or "relatable" to viewing audiences. On trend are assorted hairstyles and divergent fashions.
Yet, for all the diversity, it's still rare to see a broadcast reporter wearing a hijab.
“I didn’t want to compromise my faith for my profession,” says Ayah Galal, a morning news reporter at WFSB, a CBS affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut.
Galal is one of four broadcast reporters in North America, by her count, who regularly wear a hijab on television.
"Growing up, there were no people who looked like me on TV," she says. "So I originally was worried about wearing a hijab and getting hired."
Galal started out as a producer, but eventually worked her way up to an on-air reporter position, becoming the first news reporter in Connecticut to wear a hijab on screen.
"There was a lot of positive feedback," she says. "It's especially great to get the messages of support from the Muslim community. So many are just thrilled to see someone who looks like them on the air."
Representation really matters, she says. "Especially for younger Muslim girls who might doubt their abilities because they don't see many people who look like them. It's important they have someone to look to and think, 'Anything is possible if you set your mind to it.'"
The reception, while largely positive, has also occasionally been ethnocentric and bigoted, however.
“There were some malicious emails,” she says. “Frankly, some people just saying some really disgusting things about ‘radical Islam'.
"The funny thing is, so many of those comments are not based on my actual journalism skills or, you know, my ability to tell stories," she says. "They were all based on how I looked."
Becoming Tahera Rahman
Although Galal is the first TV reporter in Connecticut to wear the hijab regularly, she is not the first in the US.
That distinction probably goes to Tahera Rahman, who is currently a reporter at KXAN, an NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas.
"Growing up, I know that I never saw anybody wear the hijab as I watched the news," Rahman tells The National.
She started wearing the hijab on air in 2018 when she began reporting career at WHBF in Rock Island, Illinois.
At the time, her decision to wear the hijab caught the attention of major US media outlets, and she even appeared on NBC's then-prominent show, Megyn Kelly Today.
She was also the subject of a Voice of America network special, broadcast on several continents, which went behind the scenes with Rahman at work.
“We realised she is the first to wear a hijab,” WHBF news director Mike Mickle told Voice of America. “But if she had been the 30th or the 300th or the 3,000th it wouldn’t have made a difference, we did this because she’s Tahera and she has earned this opportunity.”
Rahman, like Galal, says she encountered bigoted emails and social media messages based on her decision to wear the hijab on air, but she never questioned her decision.
“We feel empowered enough to say, ‘This is what our community looks like,’” she says, emphasising the need to diversify newsrooms. “I’m glad to see there are changes, but there’s definitely a long way to go.”
The 'Hijabi Reporter Crew'
In an effort to reach out and discuss their unique experiences with like-minded professionals, Rahman and Galal regularly exchange messages in a WhatsApp group called Hijabi Reporter Crew, where they're joined by Ubah Ali, an on-air multimedia journalist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“We use it if we just want to vent or if we have a question about how to handle certain negative comments,” Rahman says of the group. “We also help push one another, and exchange Ramadan greetings, things like that."
They've even used Zoom to facilitate meet-ups, where they were once joined by Ginella Massa, a prominent news anchor and reporter in Toronto, who also wears the hijab.
"She has her own prime time TV show and that's just insanely incredible and powerful," Rahman says. "So we did that Zoom chat and it was great just to be able to connect."
Galal shared a post on Twitter soon after one of these Zoom meet-ups. “We talk about journeys, challenges, backlash and share advice,” she wrote.
Although their current group might be small in size, both Galal and Rahman note the ripple effect their presence on air will have for years to come.
“Eventually this shouldn’t be exciting or new,” Rahman says. “Instead of seeing a hijab-wearing TV reporter, maybe it’ll just be a reporter who happens to wear the hijab.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
Rajasthan Royals 153-5 (17.5 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 60-4 (6 ov)
Rajasthan won by 10 runs (D/L method)
Health Valley
Founded in 2002 and set up as a foundation in 2006, Health Valley has been an innovation in healthcare for more than 10 years in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
It serves as a place where companies, businesses, universities, healthcare providers and government agencies can collaborate, offering a platform where they can connect and work together on healthcare innovation.
Its partners work on technological innovation, new forms of diagnostics and other methods to make a difference in healthcare.
Its agency consists of eight people, four innovation managers and office managers, two communication advisers and one director. It gives innovation support to businesses and other parties in its network like a broker, connecting people with the right organisation to help them further
Leaderboard
63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)
64 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)
66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)
67 - Tom Lewis (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
68 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)
69 - Justin Rose (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Danny Willett (ENG), Li Haotong (CHN), Matthias Schwab (AUT)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
More on Quran memorisation:
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now
UAE gold medallists:
Omar Al Suweidi (46kg), Khaled Al Shehhi (50kg), Khalifa Humaid Al Kaabi (60kg), Omar Al Fadhli (62kg), Mohammed Ali Al Suweidi (66kg), Omar Ahmed Al Hosani (73), all in the U18’s, and Khalid Eskandar Al Blooshi (56kg) in the U21s.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
About%20My%20Father
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELaura%20Terruso%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERobert%20De%20Niro%2C%20Sebastian%20Maniscalco%2C%20Kim%20Cattrall%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Why does a queen bee feast only on royal jelly?
Some facts about bees:
The queen bee eats only royal jelly, an extraordinary food created by worker bees so she lives much longer
The life cycle of a worker bee is from 40-60 days
A queen bee lives for 3-5 years
This allows her to lay millions of eggs and allows the continuity of the bee colony
About 20,000 honey bees and one queen populate each hive
Honey is packed with vital vitamins, minerals, enzymes, water and anti-oxidants.
Apart from honey, five other products are royal jelly, the special food bees feed their queen
Pollen is their protein source, a super food that is nutritious, rich in amino acids
Beewax is used to construct the combs. Due to its anti-fungal, anti-bacterial elements, it is used in skin treatments
Propolis, a resin-like material produced by bees is used to make hives. It has natural antibiotic qualities so works to sterilize hive, protects from disease, keeps their home free from germs. Also used to treat sores, infection, warts
Bee venom is used by bees to protect themselves. Has anti-inflammatory properties, sometimes used to relieve conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, nerve and muscle pain
Honey, royal jelly, pollen have health enhancing qualities
The other three products are used for therapeutic purposes
Is beekeeping dangerous?
As long as you deal with bees gently, you will be safe, says Mohammed Al Najeh, who has worked with bees since he was a boy.
“The biggest mistake people make is they panic when they see a bee. They are small but smart creatures. If you move your hand quickly to hit the bees, this is an aggressive action and bees will defend themselves. They can sense the adrenalin in our body. But if we are calm, they are move away.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
