Dima Khatib () is a (Syrian- born) Palestinian journalist, poet and translator. She is the managing director of

AJ+ AJ, or variants, may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Applejack (''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''), a character from the fourth incarnation of ''My Little Pony'' * A. J. (''The Fairly OddParents''), a fictio ...

, an award-winning digital news service in English, Arabic, French and Spanish launched by

Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media media conglomerate, conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera E ...

in San Francisco, USA. She is currently the only female executive director within the Al Jazeera group and one of few female leaders in the Arab media sphere.

Biography

Khatib was born in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

to a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n mother and a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

father. Khatib speaks ten languages (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, Portuguese,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

, and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. She joined

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

back in 1997 as a junior intern in broadcast journalism to become a producer, correspondent in China and then Latin America Bureau Chief before making a total shift to internet journalism in recent years.

Career

Khatib has been classified among the most influential Arabs on Social Media. She received attention during Arab revolutions for providing frequent updates and commentary about recent events via her

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account. Today she tackles all kinds of issues on her social feeds, including social media, media, motherhood, poetry, Palestine and others. She started earning recognition during the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, when she worked as a live news producer in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

for Al Jazeera Arabic Channel. She gave an interview to CNN's

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

and

Wolf Blitzer Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He has been a host of ''The ...

, and was featured in ''

Control Room A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center. Overview A control room's purpose is produc ...

'', a 2004 documentary film about Al Jazeera and its coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. During her assignment in Latin America she had exclusive and close access to the late Venezuelan President

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

and interviewed several leaders such as Bolivia's

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come ...

and Brazil's Lula da Silva. Reporting from all over South and Central America she gave the Arab World an unprecedented insight into a far-away continent. From Caracas she would be cited as the source of breaking news such as Chávez being the first head of state to harshly condemn Israel over the Israeli-Lebanon conflict and cutting ties with Israel years later. She also dismissed the claims that Gaddafi has escaped to Venezuela. She lectured journalism at the

American University in Dubai The American University in Dubai (AUD) () is a private for-profit university in Dubai, United Arab Emirates located in Dubai Media City. Founded in October 1995, AUD offers programs leading to bachelor's and master's degrees. Being the first pr ...

(AUD) between 2013–2015 and gives talks around the globe. She organizes regular poetry recitals in cities across the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

region, as well as Europe and both North and Latin America. Prior to her work with Al Jazeera, Khatib has worked for Swiss Radio International in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, as well as Al-Raya Newspaper and Qatar Radio in French in

Publications

Poetry

* ''Love Refugee'' (), collection of poems in Arabic; available on Jamalon.

Nonfiction

* (coauthored) A book in Spanish about Arab Revolutions.

References

"My Double Exile From Syria and Palestine

External links

AJ+ website

Personal blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khatib, Dima Al Jazeera people Syrian journalists Palestinian women journalists 21st-century Palestinian journalists Syrian women journalists Living people 1971 births 21st-century Syrian women writers 21st-century Syrian writers Syrian people of Palestinian descent 21st-century Palestinian women writers 21st-century Palestinian writers 21st-century Palestinian poets Syrian columnists Academic staff of the American University in Dubai