Nima Elbagir ( ar, نعمة الباقر; born July 20, 1978) is a Sudanese-born journalist and an award-winning international television correspondent.
Elbagir joined
CNN as a
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based international correspondent.
[Nima Elbagir joins CNN as international correspondent – CNN Press Room - CNN.com Blogs](_blank)
/ref> In 2008, she picked up two Foreign Press Association Awards - TV News Story of the Year and Broadcast Journalist of the Year (winner of winners).[FPA Media Awards 2008 - winners , Media , guardian.co.uk](_blank)
/ref> She had been nominated for other awards including the Amnesty Award for Human Rights Journalism and the One World Broadcast Awards.
/ref> In 2008, she was shortlisted for Young Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
Awards and in 2016, the society named her Specialist Journalist of the Year. Her work had taken her "to some of the darkest and most difficult places to report on in the past 12 months", said the citation, adding that Elbagir had "demonstrated great determination and bravery as well as deep humanity. She highlighted the plight of young people moving between continents and had the language skills to follow their journey in a way that no-one else could achieve". "Her fearless reports from Africa and the Middle East' meant that she was 'being compared to NN'sveteran Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Maria Heideh AmanpourStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', 22 January 2019 (; fa, کریستیان امانپور, Kristiane Amānpur; born 12 January 1958) is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief ...
", wrote media commentator Maggie Brown on 27 February 2016's ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
''. On January 27, 2022 Elbagir was promoted to CNN's Chief International Investigative Correspondent.[CNN Promotes Nima Elbagir to Chief International Investigative Correspondent -- CNN , Revolving Door](_blank)
/ref>
Early years
Nima Elbagir was born in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1978. Her father, Ahmed Abdullah Elbagir, was a journalist who was jailed before her birth, and her mother, Ibtisam Affan, was the first publisher in Sudan. Elbagir is of Sudanese origin. At the age of three, she moved to the United Kingdom, and when she was eight years old she moved to Sudan. After six years in Sudan, she returned to the United Kingdom.
Nima Elbagir was educated in Sudan and in Britain. She holds a BSc in Philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
from the London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 milli ...
. She is fluent in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
.
Career
Elbagir began her journalism career with Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
in December 2002 reporting for them from Sudan, covering the simmering conflict in the country's Darfur
Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju ...
region. She moved into broadcast journalism in 2005 joining the launch of ''More4 News
''More4 News'' was a daily news programme on the More4 digital television channel in the United Kingdom, airing Monday to Friday from 8.00pm to 8.30pm from 2005 to 2009.
History
More4 News launched at the inception of the More4 channel on 10 Oc ...
'', where her exclusives included exposing rape allegations against the African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
in Darfur, gaining the first interview with the Aegis
The aegis ( ; grc, αἰγίς ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a d ...
security company whistleblower on the Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
"Trophy Videos", interviewing Jacob Zuma
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...
in the run-up to his 2006 rape trial and reported from Mogadishu
Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...
during the US bombing of Somalia in January 2007 [''More 4 News'' reports inside Somalia - Press Gazette](_blank)
/ref>
In her first documentary with '' Unreported World'' "Meet the Janjaweed
The Janjaweed ( ar, جنجويد, Janjawīd, lit=mounted gunman; also transliterated ''Janjawid'') are a Sudanese Arab militia group that operate in Sudan, particularly Darfur, and eastern Chad. Using the United Nations definition, the Janjaweed ...
" she gained access to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka "Hemeti", one of the main Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Janjaweed Commanders at the heart of the fighting in Darfur. Elbagir and her director Andrew Carter filmed the fighters' Sudanese Army ID cards and Chinese manufactured weaponry - broadcasting the first documentary evidence* of the Sudanese government's direct involvement with the Janjaweed and the role China's arms sales to Darfur are playing in the conflict.
(*The BBC's ''Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' broadcast the first Janjaweed admission of Sudanese Government involvement - an interview with a defector on 17 October 200
The defector in that instance did not offer Sudanese Army ID however.)
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elbagir, Nima
1978 births
People from Khartoum
Sudanese emigrants to the United Kingdom
ITN newsreaders and journalists
CNN people
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Living people
English women journalists
British women television journalists