Friday, Dec. 29, 2006, 8:30 p.m., NY time: With wall-to-wall coverage on the cable networks and on the Internet of the iminent execution of Saddam Hussein, below is a list of some of the South Asian journalists helping to tell the story. On at least three major U.S. media outlets, the story is being told, in a major part, by South Asian journalists. I can't think of a precedent for
this.
[ UPDATE 10:06 pm: On CNN, Aneesh Raman announced that Arab networks are reporting the execution has taken place "10 minutes ago". According to TVNewser.com, the popular TV news blog, Raman and CNN were the first to break the news to a U.S. audience:
Saddam: CNN First With Execution, Citing Al Hurra; FNC & MSNBC Follow
CNN, 10:06pm: Aneesh Raman: "Al Hurra television in Iraqi is now reporting that the execution of Saddam Hussein was carried out ten minutes ago."
According to Matt Drudge at DrudgeReport.com:
CNN Broke at 10:06... FOX 10:08... NBC first broadcast net to report execution of Hussein at 10:14 pm, ET -- CBS went up at 10:18 -- ABC up at 10:25... ]
In Baghdad:
- Aneesh Raman, CNN Middle East correspondent based in Cairo, is back in Baghdad, reporting live. He also contributed to this CNN.com story, "Hussein Executed with Fear in his Face." Also see "Three Questions for Aneesh Raman."
- Sudarsan Raghavan, Baghdad correspondent, is covering the story for the
Washington Post. His lead story on Dec. 30: "Saddam Hussein is Put to Death."
Click on image on right to see full WP front page. - Aparisim "Bobby" Ghosh, Baghdad correspondent, is covering the story for Time and Time.com. Here is one of his stories, currently the lead story on Time.com: "Getting Over Saddam."
In the US/Canada:
- Hari Sreenivasan, co-anchor of ABC World News Now (which airs from 3:30-5 a.m.), will be anchoring some of the coverage.
- Reena Ninan, former Baghdad correspondent for Fox News Channel, is going to be covering the story on Saturday, Dec. 30.
- Riz Khan, Washington anchor for Al-Jazeera International, is anchoring some of the coverage.
- Nisid Hajari, foreign editor of Newsweek, is editing part of the coverage.
- Romesh Ratnesar, foreign editor of Time, is editing part of the coverage.
- Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author of the highly praised Iraq book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" and former Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post, is part of the coverage as he moves into a new, specially-created Iraq-oriented beat out of Washington.
- Adi Raval, senior White House producer, is covering the story for the BBC out of D.C.
- Deen Karim, producer, is covering the story for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.
- Rena Golden, head of CNN International, continues to play a major role in the coverage.
- [Martin Bashir, co-anchor of the iconic "Nightline" program on ABC, was not on air on Friday night.]
- [Zain Verjee, CNN State Dept. correspondent, isn't covering this story because she's anchoring CNN's coverage of the Hajj].
[Update: Other SAJA members who have covered/are covering Iraq for major news orgs include:
Moni Basu of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who has done two tours of duty.
Aditya Raval of the Washington bureau of the BBC is moving to Iraq in February.]
If you know others, including foreign correspondents of South Asian publications, please e-mail saja@columbia.edu or feel free to post your comments below.
