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Al Jazeera staffs up for US launch

Qatar-based Al Jazeera continues to gear up for the forthcoming launch of Al Jazeera America by hiring a former ABC News executive as its president.

The Middle Eastern broadcaster acquired Al Gore’s Current TV in January for US$500m and will relaunch it as Al Jazeera America on August 20. Al Jazeera aims to compete with US cable news channels with in-depth reporting of news and current affairs.

In preparation, Kate O’Brian, previously senior VP at ABC News, is joining as president with responsibility for defining and implementing editorial strategy.

She will report to Al Jazeera’s director for international operations Ehab al-Shihabi, who has been named interim CEO of the US venture.

O’Brian had been with ABC for 30 years and will be joined at Al Jazeera America by David Doss, previously senior executive producer at CNN-owned Anderson Cooper 360, who becomes senior VP for news programming.

Marcy McGinnis, another 30-year veteran at CBS News, has been appointed senior VP of newsathering. Shannon Hugh-Bassalik is joining from CNN as senior VP of documentaries and programmes.

Al Jazeera America will be headquartered in New York with 12 regional bureaus around the country.

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