Abu Dhabi media appoints Mohamed Al Hammadi as editor-in-chief of National Geographic Al Arabiya magazine

Abu Dhabi media appoints Mohamed Al Hammadi as editor-in-chief of National Geographic Al Arabiya magazine

The magazine will be distributed in 15 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

August 24, 2010 1:43 by Rasha Reslan

ABU DHABI, UAE (23 August 2010): Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) has announced the appointment of Mohamed Al Hammadi as Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Al Arabiya, a new monthly publication which is set to launch 1st October 2010. The magazine will be distributed in 15 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Mohamed Al Hammadi’s first challenge is to coordinate editorial efforts among these countries in order to develop 20 percent of the magazine’s content as exclusive to the publication and to showcase the environmental issues and extensive range of flora, fauna and landscapes particular to the MENA region.

The appointment of Al Hammadi is the latest demonstration of ADMC’s commitment to providing the best content to consumers in the Arab world.

“National Geographic Al Arabiya is all about passion for the natural environment, its biodiversity and indigenous culture. With Mohamed’s extensive interests in photography and travel, coupled with his journalistic expertise, he is in many ways a natural choice for Editor-in-Chief. We are confident that in him National Geographic Al Arabiya has the ideal custodian to help take the title to a potentially vast audience across the MENA region,” said Gavin Dickinson, Executive Director of Publishing, ADMC.

Commenting on his appointment, Mohamed Al Hammadi, spoke of the challenges of bringing the region’s immense natural beauty to a wider audience through greater media exposure.

“People are simply becoming more interested in the natural world. Couple this with increasing environmental and scientific awareness in the region and you have a ready consumer market for media in this highly specialized sector. It’s a great honour to lead a team which will pioneer high quality content on these subjects via an internationally-renowned medium that is also well-known among fellow Arabs.”

The new publication will be available in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. Al Hammadi’s first task is to coordinate and generate content through the vast network of freelance photographers, journalists and translators available to National Geographic Al Arabiya.

National Geographic Al Arabiya will provide readers in the region with greater access to National Geographic magazine’s award-winning features on geography, archaeology and natural science, as well as its iconic imagery of natural beauty from around the world.

National Geographic Channels International and Abu Dhabi Media Company also broadcast the National Geographic Channel in Arabic across the Middle East. The new Arabic language edition of National Geographic magazine will bring to 32 the number of local-language editions.