Wikipedia Bio / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Award-winning British-Egyptian journalist Shaimaa Khalil has spent more than ten years working for the BBC. She has extensive experience covering international news.
- She is a highly skilled journalist and author with a track record of employment in the radio, television, and digital broadcast media sectors.
- Broadcasting, storytelling, breaking news, news writing, and television and radio reporting are some of Shaimaa’s specialties.
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Khalil was raised in a military family in Egypt. Her deceased father and grandfather also served in the military. Due to health issues, her father, a military officer in the army, had to retire early. Shaima first recalls him picking her up and dropping her off at school while wearing his military uniform.
- Regarding her mother, there isn’t much information available. Even though little is known about her, it is known that she has a sister.
- She is married to veteran broadcast journalist Ahmed Zaki. Nobody knows for sure if the pair has kids or not.
Education : Qualifications, High School & College Info
- Khalil obtained a Master’s in Broadcast Journalism at Westminster University in 2007.
Work, Career, Salary and Net Worth :
- Shaimaa was chosen as the Middle East Regional Editor for the BBC World Service in 2012. Since then, she has covered the Middle East extensively, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.
- She was hired in 2013 as the primary presenter of Newsday, the staple breakfast news program on BBC World Service Radio. One of the world’s most popular international breakfast news broadcasts, Newsday has millions of viewers worldwide.
- Winner of the 2014 AIB International Radio Personality of the Year award.
- Shaimaa served as the BBC’s Pakistan Correspondent from 2014 until 2016. She had an office in the nation’s capital, Islamabad, and actively worked everywhere in the country. During her 2 years in Pakistan, she covered significant events like the Peshawar school shooting and Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize. She also reported on breaking news from Afghanistan, such as the Taliban’s capture of Kunduz and the bombing of the Kunduz hospital.
- Shaimaa returned to London between 2017 and 2019 and resumed her position as one of the main presenters on Newsday again.
- Post that, Shaimaa moved to Sydney, where she worked as the BBC’s Australia and New Zealand reporter.
- Since Feb 2023, she is based in Japan as the Tokyo Correspondent for BBC News.
Interesting Facts, Height and Trivia :
- Shaimaa was covering the Arab Spring in her native Egypt when she was arrested by the military at Tahrir Square in the summer of 2011. The circumstances surrounding her imprisonment are unclear, but she tweeted that she was warned that anyone taking pictures would be detained. After spending a night in custody, she was brought to the prosecution for questioning before being released.
- Shaimaa, a Muslim Arab, and Shelley David, an Ashkenazi ethnic Jew from South Africa, co-wrote a dual storytelling memoir titled “Runaways”. The book, released by Ultimo Press in 2022, explores their companionship that defies historical, geographic, and temporal boundaries as they push against patriarchal limits. It narrates their life experiences, including how they were formed, torn apart, and reunited.
- In October 2017, Shaimaa recounted her first experience with harassment as a child growing up in Alexandria, Egypt. At the age of 11, Shaimaa was allowed to go out with her cousin and friend without adult supervision for the first time, feeling excited and nervous about this newfound independence. However, they soon realized they were being followed by three boys on the crowded streets of Alexandria. One of them touched Shaimaa inappropriately, leaving her feeling both frightened and angry. Despite trying to escape, the boys persisted in pursuing them, verbally harassing them along the way. Eventually, the girls managed to return safely to her grandparents’ home while holding hands, with Shaimaa turning around to yell “Kifaya!” (Enough!) in response to the harassment.
- In 2015, Pakistan resumed the death penalty after a seven-year hiatus, in response to the Taliban’s killing of more than 150 people, mostly children. According to The World organization’s website, Pakistan has executed over 200 people in recent years, placing it among the countries with the highest number of executions, alongside Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China. Shaimaa interviewed Sabir Massih, an executioner responsible for at least 25% of those executions, to understand his perspective. She asked him about his thoughts while heading to the gallows to carry out a hanging. Massih revealed that he thinks about nothing and just wants to get the job done quickly.
- As per one of Shaimaa’s BBC piece, it’s not just the males in her father’s old photo album from the 1950s and 1960s that reveal information about Egypt’s political and social development; it’s also the women, many of whom are in uniform, which show the country’s progress.
- Shaimaa contributed to a BBC crew that covered the beginning of the military operation to drive ISIS out of Mosul in 2016.
- In an article she wrote in August 2014, Shaimaa explained the importance of the headscarf in Muslim countries. She had initially started wearing it in her 20s, after much internal debate and discussions with her mother. She wore the hijab for ten years while living and working in London but eventually decided to do without it. However, when she was offered a job as a Pakistan correspondent, she chose to wear the headscarf again due to security and cultural reasons in some conservative areas.
- In 2012, Shaimaa was the Middle East Regional Editor for the BBC World Service, where she provided extensive coverage of the region, with a particular focus on Egypt. She produced a comprehensive radio documentary series titled “Egypt’s Challenge,” which delved into the country’s society, politics, and economy, during the period when the Muslim Brotherhood held power.
- In late 2022, BBC Breakfast star Naga Munchetty got a little green-eyed today as her colleague Shaimaa got to hang out on the set of Neighbours. Shaimaa was reporting on the final episode of the iconic soap, and Naga couldn’t help but feel a bit envious. But hey, who wouldn’t want to visit Ramsay Street and hobnob with Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan?