We seek the pleasure of your company at the fourth annual fundraising dinner of Arab Media Watch, an independent, non-profit organisation (the only one of its kind) set up in 2000 to strive for objective coverage of Arab issues in the British media.
The dinner takes place on Saturday 7 June 2008 at the Royal Garden hotel on Kensington High Street, London. The reception starts at 6.30pm, with the main event starting at 7pm. Dress code is lounge suit.
Tickets are £90 for AMW members and £110 for non-members, though non-members can book tables of 10 for £1,000, and can register for membership on the AMW website - it is free, easy and fast. There are a limited number of complimentary tickets for the media.
Please contact 07956 455 528 or info@arabmediawatch.com for tickets, or to support the dinner in any of the ways described below. You can pay for tickets, or make a donation if you cannot attend, by cheque or bank transfer. Please make cheques payable to A. M. Watch Ltd and send them to Arab Media Watch, PO Box 36134, London SW7 1WY. For bank transfers, details are:
Bank: Natwest, Knightsbridge Branch, PO Box 6037, 186 Brompton Rd, London SW3 1XJ
Account holder: A. M. Watch Ltd
Account number: 84542055
Sort code: 60-04-04
You can have your tickets left for you at the event or mailed to you beforehand. If you prefer the latter, please provide your postal address.
This year's AMW award for excellence in journalism will go to Rageh Omaar, who presents the documentary series "Witness" on Al Jazeera English, is a regular columnist for the New Statesman, and a former BBC correspondent. He will attend the dinner and accept the award personally.
Confirmed speakers (5-10 minutes each) are:
- Richard Beeston, foreign editor at the Times
- Stephen Cole, main news anchor for Al Jazeera English
- David Gardner, chief leader writer and associate editor at the Financial Times
- Jonathan Steele, senior foreign correspondent and in-house columnist on international affairs for the Guardian
Award-winning Arab-American comedian Aron Kader will be coming all the way from Hollywood to perform at the dinner.
Those attending include prominent media figures, diplomats, businesspeople, the British-Arab community and its friends and supporters.
The evening will include music, raffle and auction. Prizes include sports memorabilia, five-star holidays, masterpieces from renowned artists, meals at top London restaurants, and exquisite jewellery.
As the event's success will ensure our ability to keep going from strength and strength in giving Arabs a voice and a fair hearing in the media, we gratefully ask for your support with any of the following:
1) Sponsorship: Donating £3,000 or more will make you / your company an official sponsor. You will be offered any or all of the following (according to your wishes): a prominent thank-you in our dinner programme, up to 3 complimentary tables for 10, a company stall in the reception area, and a 3-month ad on the AMW website, which is visited by thousands every day.
2) Advertisement: You can advertise your company in our dinner programme. A full page costs £500, a half page £250, but the inner front cover and back of the programme will cost £700 for a full page and £350 for a half page.
3) Auction / Raffle: You can donate items for our auction and/or raffle. All items and contributors will be mentioned and thanked in the programme.
4) Ticket Sales: There are a number of free tickets for the media. Tickets for AMW members are £90 and £110 for non-members, though non-members can book tables of 10 for £1,000. Membership is free, easy and fast.
5) Donations: Independent donations are also welcome.
6) Publicity: You could publicise the event within your company, or through email lists.
We hope you will be able to attend and support the dinner. To do so, please contact 07956 455 528 or info@arabmediawatch.com
Early bookings are strongly advised. To find out more about AMW, click on:
http://www.arabmediawatch.com/amw/AboutUs/tabid/52/Default.aspx
David Gardner
David is chief leader writer and associate editor at the Financial Times, whose areas of expertise include the Middle East. He joined the newspaper in 1978, and has worked mainly as a foreign correspondent (Spain; Mexico and Central America; Brussels; New Delhi; Beirut); a regional specialist (as Middle East editor); and writer on international affairs. He became chief leader writer in 2006.
In 2003, David won the David Watt international journalism prize for his writing on the Arab world. He regularly appears on international TV and radio, and has lectured or given papers at numerous think-tanks, foundations and universities in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
Stephen Cole
Stephen is a veteran of international TV news, having fronted Sky News, CNN International, BBC World and BBC News 24 for the past 17 years. Currently a main news anchor for Al Jazeera English, his previous position was senior presenter with BBC World in London, and as host of their "Click Online" programme.
During the strike action by BBC technical staff and journalists on May 23, 2005, Stephen was the stand-in presenter of BBC News coverage, including presenting the Six O'Clock News and Ten O'Clock News bulletins on BBC One and BBC News 24. The bulletins drew in more viewers than usual, and led him to become known in the industry as the "Peter Pan of television."
As a widely recognised face of international TV news with 26 years of experience in the field of journalism, Stephen has developed from newspaper reporter to TV broadcaster, first with the BBC's news and current affairs show "Nationwide," and from there to ITN. He was recently elected to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Jonathan Steele
Jonathan is senior foreign correspondent and in-house columnist on international affairs for the Guardian. Educated at Cambridge and Yale, he has reported for the newspaper since 1965, where his positions have included bureau chief in London and Moscow. In his present role he travels frequently to the Middle East, and has contributed to the Guardian's coverage of Iraq since the start of the war.
Jonathan has twice been named International Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards, the British equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. He has also won the same title at the Amnesty International annual awards, as well as the London Press Club Scoop of the Year Award.
In 1998, Jonathan won the James Cameron award for "work as a journalist that combined moral vision and professional integrity." In 2006, he won the Martha Gellhorn special award for "consistently high-quality journalism." A frequent broadcaster, Jonathan has written numerous books on international affairs, his latest being "Defeat: Why They Lost Iraq," which AMW launched in January 2008.
Rageh Omaar
Rageh presents the documentary series "Witness" on Al Jazeera English, and is a regular columnist for the New Statesman. He previously worked for the BBC as world affairs correspondent, and most recently as Africa correspondent.
Rageh's career highlights include reporting live from war-torn Somalia and Iraq. His reports during the 2003 invasion of Iraq made him a household name, during which almost 90% of the British population reportedly watched him on either the weekday BBC news bulletins, or on News 24. These bulletins were syndicated across the US, where the Washington Post labelled him the 'Scud Stud'.
Rageh was born in the Somali capital Mogadishu in 1967, and moved to Britain as a child, gaining an honours degree in modern history from Oxford University in 1990. A year later, he became a freelance foreign correspondent for the BBC World Service, and a year after that, he became a producer and broadcast journalist for the BBC.
Rageh recently wrote the biography "Only Half of Me: Being a Muslim in Britain." He has also written a book about his time as the BBC's Iraq correspondent called "Revolution Day," which deals with the effects of the Saddam Hussein regime, UN sanctions, and the invasion and occupation on Iraqi civilians.
Rageh's documentaries for the BBC include "An Islamic History of Europe", "The Miracles of Jesus" and "The Dead Sea Scrolls." He is the recipient of an Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy award for best media correspondent, and is the recipient of the 2008 AMW award for excellence in journalism.
Richard Beeston
Richard joined the Times in 1986 and has worked for the foreign department ever since. He was promoted to foreign editor at the beginning of this year. He was previously the diplomatic editor for seven years. Since 9/11, the job has focused primarily on the Middle East, taking him on numerous visits to Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Recent interviews have included the leaders of Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey and Georgia, as well as Tony Blair and General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq. Richard was the Moscow bureau chief from 1994-98, covering the chaotic years of President Yeltsin's rule and in particular the war in Chechnya.
Before going to Russia he worked as the Middle East correspondent, where he reported on the Madrid peace conference, the Oslo peace initiative and the massacre of Palestinian worshippers in Hebron. During this period he was also sent on assignment to Bosnia, where he covered the civil war.
Richard worked as a foreign news reporter based in London from 1986-91. He reported on the Iran-Iraq war, where he was with the first group of journalists to visit the Kurdish town of Halabja, where thousands died in an Iraqi chemical weapons attack. He also covered the release of Nelson Mandela, the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Western hostage crisis in Lebanon.
Before joining the Times, Richard worked as a freelance correspondent in Beirut covering the civil war.
Aron Kader
Aron would like to thank his Palestinian father and Mormon mother for giving him so many reasons to be an award-winning comedian. Raised in the Washington DC area, Aron (or Haroun) moved to Hollywood at 19 years of age to pursue comedy and acting.
After quickly rising up the ranks in the stand-up circuits, he became known as an up and comer. Aron now performs regularly in Hollywood at his home club "The Comedy Store," and is one of four members of the renowned "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour."
He has been seen on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend," the TV cop drama "The Shield," and has been featured in the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Scotsman, Daily Star, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, National Public Radio and PBS, among many others.
Most recently, Aron filmed a TV pilot for NBC called "Beverly Hills SUV," he was a standout at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and received stellar reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year. Most of the time, Aron can be seen touring all the major clubs and colleges throughout the US and beyond, and likes it if you Google him.
"Kader & Co. represent a new twist on an American tradition of self-deprecating and edgy ethnic humor. They are doing for Middle Easterners what Richard Pryor, Margaret Cho and John Leguizamo did for African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics - carrying their culture from the margins to the mainstream." - Lorraine Ali, Newsweek
"…he's at his best when most animated…Enjoyable stuff…" - Brian Logan, the Guardian
"His George Bush impersonation has a keener psychological truth than most; his reasoning on country music's popularity makes absolute sense; and a portrayal of a redneck workmate is cruelly touching." - Jay Richardson, the Scotsman