Comcast‘s NBC News and Sky News are joining forces to launch The World With Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim, a new weekly global affairs podcast that will “combine eyewitness reporting from the front line of the world’s most hazardous areas with in-depth analysis and conversation with some of the most important and influential figures on the global stage.”
The new show will leverage the news expertise, reach and big names of the major U.S. and U.K. news brands that have been under the Comcast umbrella since the media, entertainment, telecom and technology giant’s 2018 acquisition of European media and tech powerhouse Sky.
Engel is the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, while Hakim is the lead world news presenter for Sky News. New episodes will be available every Wednesday from Oct. 9 wherever you get your podcasts.
“Well-known to news audiences for their courageous coverage of hot zones across the globe, they have known each other as friendly competitors over the course of their award-winning careers,” Sky and NBC said. “Now under one roof at sister news organizations, they’ll come together each week to offer audiences a thoughtful look at our world’s most complex issues, as they give listeners the full story, on the people shaping global events.”
Their goal: to offer listeners “a front-row seat to the most pressing issues of our time.”
Hakim said she was “thrilled to be partnering with my friend Richard Engel, one of the most talented foreign correspondents of our time, on an exciting new project to help make sense of our world.” She added: “This is a moment of intensifying conflict and polarization. At times, it feels as if the idea of truth itself is vanishing, especially as technology makes it ever more difficult to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s fake, and as distrust between and within societies grows. I hope therefore this podcast can serve as a kind of port in the storm.”
Engel said that the launch of the podcast comes at a crucial time. “We are in the midst of covering conflicts that have ripple effects across the globe. I can’t think of a better person than Yalda Hakim to explore these complex events with and delve into some of the most important issues,” he said. “She’s an incredible reporter, caring, hard-working and curious. Together, we’ll be talking to fascinating people about interesting and important subjects that have made us witnesses to history.”
The inspiration for the podcast goes back to two key experiences of the hosts, Sky and NBC News said. In 2007, Engel was invited to the White House for a private one-on-one meeting with President George W. Bush to discuss Iraq and Middle East policy. “It was Richard’s ability to be in the thick of the fighting while at the same time provide fast, accurate and wide-reaching analysis of what was happening that interested the president,” they said.
Meanwhile, in 2021, immediately prior to the fall of Kabul, Hakim received a call from the Taliban live on air. “In a world exclusive, the spokesman assured Hakim that no one in the city would be harmed by their troops when they entered the city,” according to the news organizations. “It was an episode that highlighted that Yalda is one of the best-connected and well-respected journalists in the business — and the show will be drawing on her extensive contacts book to provide most knowledgeable and high-profile guests.”
NBC News and Sky News are targeting a global audience with the new podcast. “We’re proud to partner with Sky News in bringing together these world-class journalists on one program that is available to audiences everywhere,” emphasized David Verdi, executive vp, global newsgathering at NBC News.
“These delicate times call for more insight and analysis — and that’s exactly the journalism that Yalda Hakim and Richard Engel can provide,” added David Rhodes, executive chairman, Sky News Group. “For more than five years now, Sky News and NBC News have been under the same corporate umbrella. Yalda and Richard’s collaboration will demonstrate the global capabilities of that partnership: bringing the full story, first, to audiences around the world.”
The World With Richard Engel & Yalda Hakim podcast.
Courtesy of Sky News