Aline Abboud (born ) is a German

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. 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, geo ...

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), 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 Decemb ...

, she worked for the German public broadcaster

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

as an editor and reporter with a focus on

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

. Since September 2021, Abboud presents ''

Tagesthemen ''Tagesthemen'' is one of Germany's main daily television news magazines, presented by journalists Caren Miosga and Ingo Zamperoni. Second only to the 20:00 ''Tagesschau'' ("Review of the Day") ''Tagesthemen'' ("Issues of the Day") is ARD's mos ...

'', a daily news magazine broadcast by ARD. She is the first woman born in the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

to hold this position.

Early life and education

Aline Abboud was born in 1988 in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

, then part of the

, to a Lebanese father and a German mother. She read

with stints in Beirut and Istanbul. Speaking to ''

Leipziger Volkszeitung The ''Leipziger Volkszeitung'' or ''LVZ'' ( 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 publication of the ...

'' in 2021, Abboud said that she had always wished to become a journalist in order to cover the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, 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 German Federalism, federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representat ...

, 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 c ...

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

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, pl ...

. She serves on the advisory board of the Candid Foundation, a

nonprofit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

focussing on the Southern Mediterranean and

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes A ...

. In 2021, Abboud joined the public broadcaster ARD to succeed Pinar Atalay on ''

'', 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.

References

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