THE SHURA Council announced yesterday the appointment of Galal Nassar as Al-Ahram Weekly's new editor-in-chief. Nassar, managing editor since 2004, will take over the editorship for a renewable three-year term after Assem El-Kersh who headed the newspaper since 2005. Nassar has worked with the Weekly since it was founded by the late chief editor Hosny Guindy on 28 February 1991 as the newspaper's military correspondent covering conflicts in Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iraq, Gaza and South Lebanon in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nassar has also reported on joint military manoeuvres in Egypt and the Middle East thereby becoming one of the region's distinguished military analysts. In the period 1994-2002 Nassar had claimed five Press Syndicate awards for the best column, interview, investigation, scoop and news article and his pieces were translated in a number of languages. Until his appointment as managing editor, Nassar was a staff member of the Weekly's Layout Department. A graduate of Cairo University's Faculty of Mass Communication, Journalism Department, 1991, Nassar earned a fellowship in Strategic and National Security Studies from the College of National Defence at the Higher Nasser Military Academy in 1998. Three years later, he obtained an MA in International Communications Studies at the UK University of Leeds. Nassar's selection as the Weekly's chief editor is the result of a Shura Council reshuffle of 53 heads of national newspapers. A committee tasked with nominating figures for the posts was formed by the upper house of parliament stirring a wide-ranging controversy between members in the press field. The Shura Council's announcement included the appointment of Abdel-Nasser Salama as the Arabic daily Al-Ahram's editor-in chief, Mohamed Hassan El-Banna for Al-Akhbar, Gamal Abdel-Rehim for Al-Gomhouriya and Shaker Abdel-Fattah for the Middle East News Agency. Previously, El-Kersh headed the Al-Ahram daily London bureau and before that, covered the presidency for the newspaper. The staff of Al-Ahram Weekly takes this opportunity to thank El-Kersh for all his efforts and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. (see p.6)
