THIS WEEK'S appointments to the national press include Assem El-Kersh as the new editor- in-chief of Al-Ahram Weekly. El-Kersh began his career on the foreign desk of Al-Ahram, where he worked closely with Hosny Guindy, the Weekly 's founding editor-in-chief. From 2000- 2003, El-Kersh was Al-Ahram's London bureau chief, before returning to Cairo to serve as deputy chief editor on Al-Ahram 's central desk. His media experience also includes earlier reporting positions at major international news agencies AP and Reuters, as well as with several prominent pan-Arab publications. In 1998, he founded Al-Ahram 's online edition. El-Kersh takes over editorial and managerial responsibility for the Weekly from Hani Shukrallah, who, as executive editor-in-chief since Hosny Guindy's death two years ago, has shouldered the responsibility of issuing an exceptionally liberal newspaper that takes changing political realities into account, while reinforcing principles of pluralism and dialogue. Shukrallah joined the Weekly soon after its founding, rising in the ranks from chief sub editor to managing editor as the years went by. Since its inception the Weekly has striven to be a paper of record, endeavouring to report, for an English-speaking audience, the changes that are shaping the future of Egyptian society. It is a task that becomes even more critical in today's complex political climate. The Weekly, as Guindy tirelessly stressed, aims to cover events from an Egyptian perspective, placing the nation's interests, whether on the domestic, regional or international level, above all else. Under its new editor-in-chief, the paper remains as committed to these founding principles in its 750th edition, as it was in its first, and will be in the future.
