Benazir Karim and Nazneen Jehan at the studio.
DOHA: Three alumni from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) are putting their knowledge and skills to work at the new Qatar TV (QTV), recently re-launched with a modern look and fresh content.
The three members of NU-Q’s first graduating class, Nazneen Zahan, Shannon Farhoud and Benazir Karim, are part of a new breed of locally-trained journalists who are contributing their outlook to the national broadcaster’s transformation, as it tailors Qatari content for global audiences.
NU-Q Dean and CEO Everette Dennis said that the school is “proud to see some of our first graduates already making an impact on Qatar’s local media institutions. Because their coursework couples a foundation in the liberal arts with extensive training and immersion in the local community, our graduates are well-equipped to tell the stories of Qatari communities and respond to the increasingly global demands of Qatari newsrooms.”
“The skills we acquired at NU-Q are exactly what are expected from us at this channel,” said Nazneen Zahan, a journalist at the TV Support and Development Committee at Qatar TV.
“We were trained to work on tight deadlines and to go above and beyond when necessary, work with the latest equipment and switch hats from being a producer one minute to a director in the next.”
Zahan, a Doha-born Bangladeshi national, works on documentaries that tackle both international and local news. ndustry for so many years.”
“Working between QTV and trying to start my own production company is hard, but passion keeps me and my colleagues going,” said Shannon Farhoud, who co-founded a production company called Torath with three other NU-Q alumni. The company’s first production Lyrics Revolt, a documentary about Arab hip-hop, received a special mention at the 2012 Doha Tribeca Film Festival.
Formerly a business student in Canada, Farhoud decided to move to NU-Q so she could change to a more creative field of study in a top school that would also be close to her family who reside in Kuwait.
The Peninsula
