Dena Takruri | |
|---|---|
دينا تكروري | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA) Georgetown University (MA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Employer | AJ+ |
Dena Takruri (Arabic:دينا تكروري) is a Palestinian-American journalist, on-air presenter, and digital producer withAJ+, an online news service owned byAl Jazeera Media Network. She is the host of the award-winning AJ+ docuseriesDirect From with Dena Takruri, which focuses on domestic and international breaking news, political issues, and social justice movements.
The videos that Takruri hosts range in format from in-studio explainers that provide context to the news stories, to interviews with experts and stakeholders, and ground reports from the locations of rapid news developments. Specific subjects that she has covered include theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict; theKorean conflict; theBlack Lives Matter movement,American police brutality, andmass incarceration in the United States; and the2016 United States presidential election.[2]
Dena Takruri is ofPalestinian descent.[3] She completed her graduate studies atGeorgetown University inArab Studies.[4] Takruri is a graduate ofLowell High School.
Dena Takruri began her broadcast career in 2007 as co-host and producer on a weekly hour-long satellite television program calledWhat's Happening that aired on Arab Radio and Television Network (ART). The show, which aired in North America, focused on current political, cultural and social issues related to Arab-Americans.[4]
She also worked as a research assistant withDr. Rochelle Davis of Georgetown University between January 2007 and April 2008.[5] One of her duties included interviewing U.S. military personnel who served in Iraq for a project on their perceptions of Iraqi culture and U.S. military cultural training. The findings of this research were presented at a historians’ conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in April 2008. They were ultimately published in a chapter of a book titled "Anthropology and Global Counter Insurgency."[6] In 2008, Takruri also contributed Arabic-to-English translations for the award-winning feature documentary filmBudrus.[5]
Takruri joinedAl Jazeera Arabic in Washington D.C. in 2008 as a producer on its weekly live current affairs show hosted byAbderrahim Foukara that examines the impact of U.S. politics on the Arab region. There, she produced interviews with prominent political figures includingDonald Rumsfeld,Robert Gates,Dominique Strauss-Kahn,Tony Blair,John McCain, andMahmoud Ahmadinejad.[5] Takruri joinedHuffPost Live, the online streaming network of theHuffington Post, as a producer and host in June 2012. She was part of the original launch team and covered global affairs, politics, lifestyle and culture.[7] She is now a presenter and producer atAJ+, Al Jazeera's all digital video news network targeted towardsmillennials.[8]
Takruri has reported domestically fromCharleston,South Carolina in the aftermath of thechurch shooting. She also covered thearmed occupation of the federal wildlife reserve in Oregon and the water crisis inFlint, Michigan. Internationally, Takruri covered Europe's refugee crisis, embedding with refugees and crossing borders with them while broadcasting in English and Arabic. She also reported from the West Bank during intensified tensions in the fall of 2015. Her videos have gone viral, netting millions of views on Facebook and hundreds of thousands of shares on YouTube.[2]
Since June 2015, Takruri has been the host of the AJ+ field docuseriesDirect From with Dena Takruri. The show focuses on both international and domestic breaking news, issues and social justice movements. Past episodes have covered theKorean Demilitarized Zone, theCape Town water crisis, theCatalan independence movement and homelessness inSkid Row, Los Angeles.[9]
Direct From with Dena Takruri has been recognized by multiple awards, including twoEdward R. Murrow Awards, aWebby Award, aShorty Award, and aClarion Award.[10][11] The episode "One Day in Hebron" (retitled "How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown" on its YouTube page) won a Peabody Award in 2023.[12]
Takruri was one of the first journalists who interviewed Palestinian activistAhed Tamimi after her release from Israeli prison[9] and helped writeher memoir, which was published in 2022.[13] The book won aPalestine Book Award.[14]
Takruri is proficient inArabic andEnglish.[15] She identifies as aMuslim.[2]