Kamahl Santamaria

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Kamahl S. Santamaria
AlJazeera Inauguration Kamahl.jpg
Born (1980-02-14) 14 February 1980 (age 41)
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationJournalist, news anchor
Years active1998-present
Career
Station(s)Al Jazeera English
NetworkAl Jazeera Media Network
Station(s)Sky News Australia (2002-2004); TV3 New Zealand (1998-2001)
CountryQatar
Previous show(s)newsgrid; Counting the Cost; Sky Business Report with David Koch
Websitekamahlsantamaria.com

Kamahl Santamaria is a New Zealand journalist, and currently a Principal Presenter at Al Jazeera English based in Doha, Qatar.

Kamahl presents news and current affairs across the channel - news bulletins, the Newshour, discussion show Inside Story - and between September 2009 and November 2016 was the regular host of the weekly business and economics programme Counting the Cost.[1]

He was also the primary presenter of Al Jazeera's interactive newshour newsgrid which ran between November 2016 and March 2019. The show was nominated for an International Emmy Award in October 2018.[2][3]

Personal life[]

Kamahl was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand.

He received his secondary education at Macleans College, where he was in Kupe House. In 1997 he was appointed House Captain.

His family was originally from India, from the region of Goa, where many of the surnames reflect a long-standing Portuguese influence.

He is one of two children.[4]

Career[]

TV3 (New Zealand)[]

Kamahl began his journalistic career straight out of high school in 1998, as a news and sports reporter for TV3 in New Zealand. He also moved up to producing nightly sports bulletins, under the influence of veteran New Zealand journalists Tony Ciprian and Angus Gilles.

At the end of his time at TV3 in late 2001, Kamahl was selected to cover the Atlantic Rowing Race. He was on his way to Barbados - where the event was due to finish - when he was grounded at New York's JFK Airport following the American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Queens, New York. In the event, this made him the only reporter from New Zealand or Australia to be able to cover the disaster on the ground.[5]

Kamahl has remained visible in New Zealand media in recent years, with regular radio slots on RadioLive, NewstalkZB, and RNZ, and articles for The Spinoff.[6] In 2019 and 2020, he was a judge for New Zealand's Voyager Media Awards.[7]

Kamahl presenting 'Rewind' from Al Jazeera's Studio 14, Doha

Sky News (Australia)[]

After three years working on TV3's flagship nightly news show 3 News, Kamahl moved to Australia where he established and ran Sky News Australia's Melbourne business bureau, from the Docklands Broadcast Centre of Channel Seven Melbourne.

He was a reporter, presenter and producer on the nightly Sky Business Report with David Koch.[8]

Al Jazeera English (Qatar)[]

Kamahl, and Bloomberg's Emily Chang hosting a session at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016, Palo Alto

In 2004 Kamahl moved to New York and London, and in 2005 was recruited by Al Jazeera English to become a news presenter in Doha, Qatar.

As well as presenting multiple news bulletins and programmes across the channel, he has also reported for Al Jazeera from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany, Dubai, France, the United States, the Philippines, and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Kamahl has been the electoral "number cruncher" for the U.S. Presidential Elections in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020[9] and in January 2021, went on to anchor Al Jazeera's U.S. presidential inauguration coverage from Washington DC.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Kamahl Santamaria". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Al Jazeera English debuts interactive newscast from new Doha facility". Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  3. ^ "Programmes". Kamahl Santamaria. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Article from North and South magazine, March 2014" (PDF).
  5. ^ "About Kamahl". Kamahl Santamaria. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  6. ^ Santamaria, Kamahl. "Kamahl Santamaria". The Spinoff. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Judges 2019". Voyager Media Awards. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  8. ^ "About Kamahl". Kamahl Santamaria. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Kamahl Santamaria". World Media Summit Doha 2016. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  10. ^ Santamaria, Kamahl (24 January 2021), AL JAZEERA: Presidential Inauguration 2021, retrieved 22 February 2021

External links[]

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