It is believed that a former BBC editor who oversaw Radio 4’s Today show left the organization in favor of a key position with Saudi Arabia’s national broadcaster.
After failing to be appointed BBC director of news, Jamie Angus left his position as senior controller of production and commissioning at BBC News in April to take up an unnamed new position.
According to The Times, it is now thought that he has landed a top position at Al Arabiya News, a subsidiary of the Saudi media giant MBC Group.
Although his title is unknown, sources have conjectured that he might hold the job of chief operational officer or chief financial officer for the station.
Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language station that debuted in 2003, is supposedly angus’s endeavor to establish himself as one of the most dynamic news organizations in the world.
Bosses at the BBC, however, do not think highly of his new position because of moral reservations with Saudi Arabia’s violations of human rights.
The infamous murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in March 2018 has been consistently denied by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Al Salman.
Al Arabiya’s headquarters are in Dubai, but staff members started migrating to Riyadh in September.
The Saudi Arabian government is apparently attempting to integrate its media activities more closely because the channel is commonly regarded as a competitor to Qatar’s Al Jazeera.
After broadcasting what it claimed to be “confessions” from jailed Bahraini opposition leader Hassan Mushaima, Ofcom fined Al Arabiya £120,000 in 2018.
The fact that Mushaima had been tortured was not disclosed to viewers by the television.
The UK’s broadcasting code is strictly enforced, and Ofcom only occasionally imposes fines for erroneous or deceptive reporting.
Angus spent more than 20 years working for the BBC. From 2017 until 2021, he contributed to the Today show.
He was also Newsnight’s deputy editor and formerly in charge of the BBC World Service, which broadcast BBC News Arabic as part of its programming.
Angus was a candidate for the position after Fran Unsworth left her post as director of BBC News last year and had a job interview.
According to several reports, he was dissatisfied not to have advanced past the initial round of interviews, ultimately losing out to Deborah Turness, chief executive of ITN, who will take up her position at the BBC this year.