Samira Ahmed
| Samira Ahmed | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 (age 43–44) London, England |
| Alma mater | St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
| Occupation | Journalist, writer and broadcaster |
| Years active | 1990-present |
Samira Ahmed (born 1968, London) is a British freelance journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 4's PM, The World Tonight and Sunday. She also presented two Proms for BBC Four in 2011. Ahmed's writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent and on The Spectator magazine Arts Blog. She was a reporter and presenter on Channel 4 News from 2000-2011.
[edit] Biography
Ahmed's mother Lalita (née Chatterjee, b. 1939)[1] was a freelance broadcaster for the Hindi service of the BBC World Service[2] and actress. Ahmed was educated at Wimbledon High School, a girls' independent school in Wimbledon, London, and studied English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University between 1986 and 1989.[3] During this period she won the Philip Geddes Journalism Prize for her work on student newspapers[4], and after graduation completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Newspaper Journalism at City University, London.[5] She recalls that Lucy Mathen, the first female Asian reporter on BBC television,[6] who worked on John Craven's Newsround, was an inspirational figure for her, as was broadcaster Shyama Perera,[5] who was working in Fleet Street at around the same time.[7]
Becoming a BBC news trainee in 1990, Ahmed was a BBC journalist until December 1997 working as a News correspondent, reporter on Newsnight and the Today programme and as a presenter on BBC World and BBC News 24. Shortly after her marriage, she became the BBC's Los Angeles correspondent and covered the OJ Simpson trial, before working as an anchor and political correspondent in Berlin for Deutsche Welle TV.
She joined Channel 4 News in April 2000 shortly after having her first child, and became a presenter after having her second child in July 2002. At the end of June 2011 Ahmed left Channel 4, and went freelance.[8]
In 2009 she won Broadcaster of the Year at the annual Stonewall Awards. She won the BBC's Celebrity Mastermind, her specialist round was on Laura Ingalls Wilder, in December 2010.
She combines reporting and presenting, working in her passion for old movies, whenever she can.
[edit] References
- ^ "Laita Ahmed", IMDb page
- ^ "Samira Ahmed: My Life in Media", The Independent, 13 August 2007
- ^ "The College - Famous Graduates - Samira Ahmed", St Edmund's Hall Oxford
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b Rabiah Malik Samira Ahmed, Chick and Quill, City University alumni website, 23 February 2011
- ^ Samira Ahmed "Newsround, racism and me", The Guardian, 29 September 2011
- ^ Shyama Perera "How I have come to love the flag", The Independent, 4 June 2006
- ^ Mark Sweney "Samira Ahmed to leave Channel 4, The Guardian, 6 June 2011
[edit] External links
- BBC Radio Programme: Islam Unveiled
- The Guardian contributor page
- Articles for The Spectator
- Samira Ahmed Journalism homepage
