CNN has decided to boost its journalists on the ground by bringing Mohammed Jamjoom to report along with Arwa Damon, who is already stationed in Beirut.
According to an email sent out to CNN employees:
Mohammed Jamjoom and Raja Razek will now be based in Beirut and added to our existing bureau presence there.
Given the daily demands of the news from the region, CNN will be even better poised to cover the stories that need to be told.
Mohammed will report and Raja will produce and shoot; both are available for work from Beirut as of this week.
What I find interesting is that Mohammed was based at CNN’s office in Abu Dhabi before the move to Beirut where he could have equally covered the “news from the region”. In 1997, when CNN reopened their Beirut office, then PM Rafik Hariri stated that this was “evidence of confidence in Lebanon”. What Hariri should have said was that there are enough juicy stories on the ground to warrant a CNN office. So why the move to Beirut? Probably because too much is happening in Lebanon and Syria for one journalist team to cover.
Mohammed Jamjoom joins CNN Beirut — photo via CNN Press Room