Aline Abboud (born ) is a German journalist and television presenter. Having studied

Arab studies Arab studies or Arabic studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Arabs and Arab World. It consists of several disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, historiography, archaeology, cultural studies, economics, geog ...

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, she worked for the German public broadcaster

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

as an editor and reporter with a focus on

foreign affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

. Since September 2021, Abboud presents '' Tagesthemen'', a daily news magazine broadcast by ARD. She is the first woman born in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

to hold this position.

Early life and education

Aline Abboud was born in 1988 in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, then part of the

, to a Lebanese-German family. She read

with stints in Beirut and Istanbul. Speaking to ''

Leipziger Volkszeitung The ''Leipziger Volkszeitung'' or ''LVZ'' (German language, German for ''Leipzig People's Newspaper'') is a daily regional newspaper in Leipzig and western Saxony, Germany. First published on 1 October 1894, the LVZ was formerly an important pu ...

'' in 2021, Abboud said that she had always wished to become a journalist to cover the Middle East, and that she had chosen her field of study with this wish in mind. After her studies, she volunteered at the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

, Germany's federal parliament.

Career

In 2016 Abboud became an editor at ''

heute ''heute'' (; German for ''today'') is a television news program on the German channel ZDF. The main program is broadcast at 19:00, and includes news, with an emphasis on political news from Germany, Europe and the world, plus 'mixed' news from ...

'', a news programme broadcast by

, one of Germany's two public broadcasters. She also presented ''heuteXpress'' on the same channel. From 2018, she contributed to ''auslandsjournal'', a ZDF format on

, as a reporter. Since 2019, she presents ''"DIE DA OBEN!"'' for the streaming service

Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

. Abboud has acted as a producer on a documentary (''Und jetzt Wir'') about youth protests for

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

. She serves on the advisory board of the Candid Foundation, a nonprofit organisation focussing on the Southern Mediterranean and Western Asia. In 2021 Abboud joined the public broadcaster ARD to succeed Pinar Atalay on '' Tagesthemen'', the channel's flagship daily news magazine. She is the first woman born in the German Democratic Republic to be appointed to this position. On 4 September 2021, she made her debut appearance on the programme.

Private life

Abboud has one child, a daughter, that was born in April 2024. She lives with her family in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abboud, Aline 1988 births Living people German people of Lebanese descent Journalists from Berlin ARD (broadcaster) people 21st-century German women 21st-century German journalists German television news anchors German women television journalists Leipzig University alumni