Caroline Faraj, vice president and editor in chief of CNN Arabic, will address Northwestern Qatar’s Class of 2026 at the school’s annual convocation ceremony. Faraj will join Dean and CEO Marwan M. Kraidy and Northwestern Qatar’s Student Government President Khadija Ahmad in welcoming the school’s newest class.
A leading Arab media figure, Faraj’s career in journalism began at Al Rai, the leading Arabic daily newspaper in Jordan, after earning her undergraduate degree from Yarmouk University, where she was the first woman to graduate from the journalism department. While at Al Rai, she covered the 1990 peace talks between Jordan and Israel and hosted the first morning talk show in Jordan, Youm Jadid.
In the years after, she went on to join Jordan Times as managing editor, became the regional correspondent for US Defense News, and later held positions in London for Dubai TV and in Jordan for Bahrain TV.
A leading Arab media figure, Faraj’s career in journalism began at Al Rai, the leading Arabic daily newspaper in Jordan, after earning her undergraduate degree from Yarmouk University, where she was the first woman to graduate from the journalism department. While at Al Rai, she covered the 1990 peace talks between Jordan and Israel and hosted the first morning talk show in Jordan, Youm Jadid.
In the years after, she went on to join Jordan Times as managing editor, became the regional correspondent for US Defense News, and later held positions in London for Dubai TV and in Jordan for Bahrain TV.
Caroline Faraj, vice president of CNN Arabic Services, will join Dean Kraidy in welcoming the Class of 2026, at the annual Convocation Ceremony
Faraj’s career continued to grow in the region after she moved to Dubai in 2001, where she led the launch of CNN Arabic’s site in 2002 and, in the years since, directed the channel's coverage of several major regional events, including the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the Arab Spring, and the rise of militant groups in the region. In 2015, she was appointed CNN’s Arabic vice president for Arabic services.
“Dr. Faraj, a passionate storyteller and prominent Arab media leader, has dedicated much of her career to covering stories and developing the media scene in the Middle East,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “Her career covering major events in the region, including the Jordanian-Israeli peace process, and her experience launching and leading CNN Arabic will inspire our incoming students as they embark on their undergraduate careers at Northwestern Qatar and report on stories from around the world.”
Faraj joins many notable academics, journalists, filmmakers, as well as experts in the field of media and communication who have delivered Northwestern Qatar’s convocation address in previous years, including Buffett Institute for Global Affairs Executive Director Annelise Riles; producer, Jordan Horowitz; author and journalist, Ellis Cose; internationally syndicated columnist and commentator, Rami Khouri; author and independent scholar, Jonathan Lyons; and, political scientist, Mehran Kamrava.
“Dr. Faraj, a passionate storyteller and prominent Arab media leader, has dedicated much of her career to covering stories and developing the media scene in the Middle East,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “Her career covering major events in the region, including the Jordanian-Israeli peace process, and her experience launching and leading CNN Arabic will inspire our incoming students as they embark on their undergraduate careers at Northwestern Qatar and report on stories from around the world.”
Faraj joins many notable academics, journalists, filmmakers, as well as experts in the field of media and communication who have delivered Northwestern Qatar’s convocation address in previous years, including Buffett Institute for Global Affairs Executive Director Annelise Riles; producer, Jordan Horowitz; author and journalist, Ellis Cose; internationally syndicated columnist and commentator, Rami Khouri; author and independent scholar, Jonathan Lyons; and, political scientist, Mehran Kamrava.
