NEW YORK – (July 30, 2013) – Al Jazeera America, the new American news channel that will launch on Aug. 20, today announced that award-winning reporter Ash-har Quraishi is joining the channel as the first correspondent in its Chicago bureau.
Al Jazeera America will be a news, lifestyle and investigative journalism channel that will offer the U.S. audience objective, fact-based and in-depth news focused on issues that are important to everyday Americans. The previously announced Chicago bureau is one of 12 that will open in cities across the country.
“Ash-har’s extensive, local expertise reporting in Chicago and the Midwest will play a critical role in our coverage of the city and the region,” said Marcy McGinnis, Al Jazeera America’s senior vice-president, newsgathering. “He brings a passion for investigative reporting that will serve our viewers well.”
Before joining Al Jazeera America, Quraishi was a correspondent for WTTW, Chicago’s PBS station, where he reported for the nightly news program Chicago Tonight and contributed to the PBS NewsHour. Quraishi also served as the chief investigative reporter for the CBS affiliate KCTV in Kansas City, Mo., and as CNN’s Islamabad bureau chief and correspondent immediately following the September 11 attacks.
Quraishi has received numerous awards including a CINE Golden Eagle Award, a Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club, three National Headliners and five Emmy Awards. In 2009, he received an Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting. He co-produced the award-winning documentary “Fordson” which was named Best U.S. Documentary Feature at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival in 2011.
“I am excited to join the Al Jazeera America team,” said Quraishi. “The channel’s dedication to unbiased, in-depth journalism aligns perfectly with what I have done as a reporter. I plan to bring that attitude and commitment to work every day as I report not only on the news and events, but also how they affect everyday people in their lives. I am dedicated to showing how the issues people face in my hometown of Chicago are relevant to people across the city and across the country.”
See more press releases from Al Jazeera America here.
