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Abu Dhabi Media Company appoints Mohamed Al Hammadi as Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Al Arabiya magazine

ABU DHABI, UAE: Abu Dhabi Media Company ( ADMC ) has announced the appointment of Mohamed Al Hammadi as Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Al Arabiya, a new monthly publication which is set to launch 1^st October 2010. The magazine will be distributed in 15 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Mohamed Al Hammadi's first challenge is to coordinate editorial efforts among these countries in order to develop 20 percent of the magazine's content as exclusive to the publication and to showcase the environmental issues and extensive range of flora, fauna and landscapes particular to the MENA region.

The appointment of Al Hammadi is the latest demonstration of ADMC 's commitment to providing the best content to consumers in the Arab world.

"National Geographic Al Arabiya is all about passion for the natural environment, its biodiversity and indigenous culture. With Mohamed's extensive interests in photography and travel, coupled with his journalistic expertise, he is in many ways a natural choice for Editor-in-Chief. We are confident that in him National Geographic Al Arabiya has the ideal custodian to help take the title to a potentially vast audience across the MENA region," said Gavin Dickinson, Executive Director of Publishing, ADMC .

Commenting on his appointment, Mohamed Al Hammadi, spoke of the challenges of bringing the region's immense natural beauty to a wider audience through greater media exposure.

"People are simply becoming more interested in the natural world. Couple this with increasing environmental and scientific awareness in the region and you have a ready consumer market for media in this highly specialized sector. It's a great honour to lead a team which will pioneer high quality content on these subjects via an internationally-renowned medium that is also well-known among fellow Arabs."

The new publication will be available in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. Al Hammadi's first task is to coordinate and generate content through the vast network of freelance photographers, journalists and translators available to National Geographic Al Arabiya.

National Geographic Al Arabiya will provide readers in the region with greater access to National Geographic magazine's award-winning features on geography, archaeology and natural science, as well as its iconic imagery of natural beauty from around the world.

National Geographic Channels International and Abu Dhabi Media Company also broadcast the National Geographic Channel in Arabic across the Middle East. The new Arabic language edition of National Geographic magazine will bring to 32 the number of local-language editions.

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Abu Dhabi Media Company ( ADMC ) is a leading media organization in the Middle East, with businesses in free and pay television, radio, publishing, digital media, games, feature films, music, digital signage, outside broadcast/production and printing. The company manages over 20 market-leading brands including Abu Dhabi Al Oula and Abu Dhabi Riyadiya/AD Sports TV channels; Emirate FM and Star FM radio stations; Al Ittihad and The National newspapers; Majid and Zahrat Al Khaleej magazines; anaZahra.com women's portal; Imagenation Abu Dhabi; LIVE Broadcast Production and Facilities; and United Printing Press. ADMC partners with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment on VEVO, the online music video platform, and has the region's first Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming, a joint venture with Gazillion Entertainment. ADMC is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with offices in Beirut, Cairo, Dubai and Jeddah. www.admedia.ae

The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society's mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. National Geographic reflects the world through its magazines, television programs, films, music and radio, books, DVDs, maps, exhibitions, live events, school publishing programs, interactive media and merchandise. National Geographic magazine, the Society's official journal, published in English and 32 local-language editions, is read by more than 38 million people each month. The National Geographic Channel reaches 330 million households in 34 languages in 166 countries. National Geographic Digital Media receives more than 15 million visitors a month. National Geographic has funded more than 9,400 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geography literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.

CONTACT:
Omar Abed Rabbo
Abu Dhabi Media Company
+971 2 414-4626
Omar.Abedrabbo@admedia.ae

Beth Foster
National Geographic
+1 (202) 857-7543
befoster@ngs.org

© Press Release 2010