Jamal Dajani () is a
Palestinian-American
Palestinian Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent.
There are around 160,000 Palestinian American refugees according to the 2023 American Community Survey, making up around 0.05% of the U.S. population.
Th ...
journalist and an award-winning producer. He is the co-founder o
Arab Talk Radio He formerly served as Director of Strategic Communications & Media for former Palestinian Prime Minister
Rami Hamdallah. Prior to this he was Vice President of Middle East and North Africa at
Internews. He is currently a lecturer at
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...
.
Biography
Born in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
to a prominent Palestinian family that served as custodians of
King David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...
’s mausoleum in
Mount Zion
Mount Zion (, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; , ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City to the south. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David ( ...
, Dajani completed his early studies at
Collège des Frères and attended
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in New York City, where he received a B.A. in Political Science.
Dajani is former Vice President of Middle East and North Africa at
Internews, an international non-profit organization whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect and the means to make their voices heard. Prior to this, he was the Vice President of International News at
Link TV and co-creator and series producer of ''
Mosaic: World News from the Middle East'', winner of a
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...
. In 2006, Dajani launched the ''Mosaic Intelligence Report'', a weekly video analysis broadcast on Link TV and distributed online. He has also worked as producer and in an editorial capacity on several television productions, including
Occupied Minds (a documentary about the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict), ''Who Speaks for Islam?'', and
PBS Frontline World ''War of Ideas'', where he acted .
as a consultant. Dajani has made guest appearances on numerous television and radio networks, and is a contributor to the ''Listening Post'' on
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language News broadcasting, news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is ...
. He has published several articles on the Middle East and blogs regularly on
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
. He is the co-host of ''Arab Talk'' on
KPOO radio.
Dajani was appointed by then-Mayor
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...
to the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission where he served as Chair (2005–2009),
and served on the
San Francisco Human Rights Commission
The San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) is a charter commission of the City and County of San Francisco that works to increase equality, eradicate discrimination, and to protect human rights for all people. The HRC enforces City Ordinanc ...
(2009–2011). He served for two years (2003–2004) as President of the Arab Cultural and Community Center of San Francisco, and served on the board of
New America Media, a collaboration of ethnic news organizations in the U.S.
Awards
* 64th Annual
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...
for excellence in radio and television broadcasting – Producer, ''Mosaic''
* 10th Annual
Webby Awards
The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...
Honoree – Producer, Mosaic
* ACCC- Community Service Award – 2005
* New California Media "Pathbreaker" Special Achievement Award – 2003
* City & County of San Francisco – Certificate of Honor – 2010
* San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission – Certificate of Honor – 2009
* State of Californian Senate – Certificate of Recognition – 2009
See also
*
Occupied Minds, a 2006 documentary film about the
Palestinian - Israeli conflict
References
External links
Jamal Dajani Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dajani, Jamal
American male journalists
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Palestinian film directors
Journalists from Jerusalem
Living people
Palestinian emigrants to the United States
1957 births