I turn complex realities into stories people finish — and build the newsrooms that keep doing it.

Profile

Digital editor and journalist with 20+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams, building storytelling systems, and improving performance with analytics. I design editorial playbooks, coach writers and producers, and deliver measurable audience growth across platforms.

What I do

Experience

• 2022 — present

  Independent

  Writer & Storytelling Trainer · Berlin

  I split my time between writing, editing, and teaching. On any given week I’m shaping long-form pieces, refining translation workflows, and coaching reporters through structure, voice, and verification. The same craft sits behind my two books and behind Almuharir.net, which I built as a home for practical tools and clear editorial thinking.

• 2020 — 2022

  Arta for Media & Development

  Head of Innovation · Berlin

  I helped a dispersed local team reimagine how service journalism could meet people where they are. We turned newsroom routines into lightweight playbooks, piloted explainers and audio briefs, and taught editors to pair narrative clarity with safety and verification — so urgent information could move fast and still be trusted.

• 2017 — 2020

  Arabic Post

  Executive Editor · Istanbul

  I led a large, multi-disciplinary newsroom through a mobile-first transformation. We treated story formats like products — designing interactives, explainers, and social-native packages — and aligned daily output to measurable editorial goals without losing voice or ambition.

• 2015 — 2017

  HuffPost Arabi

  Managing Editor · Istanbul

  This was the grind and the choreography: daily line-ups, commissioning, and the constant negotiation between speed and depth. I built schedules and style standards that helped a distributed team file clean, consistent work under pressure.

• 2012 — 2015

  APPROACH (YAAB FZ LLC)

  Online Executive Producer · Dubai

  I moved between launches — news, culture, government — writing the playbooks, shaping tone, and standing up the editorial systems each project needed to sustain itself after day one.

• 2010 — 2012

  MBC

  Editorial Manager · Dubai

  Here I learned to turn deadlines into teamwork. Multiple cities, multiple shifts, and one online desk: my job was to keep the machine human — clear roles, cleaner processes, and a shared sense of what “good” looks like.

• 2004 — 2010

  Al Arabiya

  Senior Journalist · Duty Editor · Dubai

  My foundation. I lived on the 24/7 desk, filing, editing, mentoring across shifts, and discovering that the only way to move fast is to think clearly. The habits stuck.

Training & workshops

• Masterclass

  How to Tell a Story

  Arc, beats, pacing, voice, audience payoff. Structure complex topics into clear narrative arcs; pitch stronger on angle, evidence, and audience.

• Workshop

  Storytelling Writing Tools

  Practical edits from idea to sentence to published piece, using a repeatable editing checklist for clarity and impact.

• On request

  Custom newsroom clinics

  Headlines that travel, explainers that stick, visual briefs that work — and using analytics to refine topics, formats, and distribution.

Books

How to Tell a Story

A practical guide to storytelling, in fifteen chapters.

2025 · ISBN 978-3-00-082996-3

Storytelling Writing Tools

A practical guide to self-editing. Readable in full on this site.

Al Jazeera Media Institute, 2024

Translations

• Literary Theory: A Very Short IntroductionJonathan Culler
• Quotation MarksMarjorie Garber
• Invention, Memory and PlaceEdward Said
• Discourse as Social PracticeNorman Fairclough

Education, skills & languages