French-Lebanese journalist Maysaloun Nassar announced at the start of October 2026 that she had taken charge of the Arabic service of the BBC, leading it from London as it faces continuing criticism and pressure over its coverage of the war in Gaza and the handling of complaints relating to editorial standards.
Nassar begins leading BBC Arabic from London
In a post on LinkedIn, Nassar said she had begun her new role as “head of BBC Arabic”. The position places her in charge of a newsroom facing protest campaigns, some led by pro-Israel groups monitoring its coverage of the war and filing complaints accusing it of inaccuracy or bias, while calling for changes to its editorial performance.
Nassar’s appointment follows a career spanning more than two decades in television production, field reporting, programme presenting and editorial management. Her appointment also marks a transfer of leadership to a journalist whose career was built outside the BBC, unlike two publicly documented previous heads who reached the position after working within the service and rising through its ranks.
Hossam al-Sukkari was appointed in May 2004 as the first Arab to head the service since its establishment in 1938, having joined it in 1994 and risen through its ranks to head its website before being promoted. Edgar Jalad, who preceded Nassar as the service’s acting editorial head, also worked for BBC Arabic and was identified in 2013 as an editor at its television service.
The service has previously recruited talent from other organisations for roles below the level of head. In 2006, it appointed a former Al Jazeera employee as a news editor as it prepared to launch its television channel.
A career outside the British corporation
But the two publicly documented routes to head the service before Nassar point to the selection of leaders from within the corporation, making her arrival from outside it unusual at the top of the service’s structure. Nassar began her career in 2003 in documentary production, scriptwriting and production management for Arab channels.
Maysaloun Nassar — BBC Arabic head; joined France 24 in early 2011; deputy editor-in-chief from January 2023 to October 2024; head of strategy and development in 2024; then head of BBC Arabic. Esy Beirut is linked to Lebanese banker Antoine Sahnaui.
Head of BBC Arabic
- Early 2011
Joining France 24
At the start of 2011, she joined France 24 in Paris as a news editor, then worked as a special correspondent and covered events in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Africa and the United States, according to her biography published by the World Woman Foundation.
- January 2023 to October 2024
Deputy editor-in-chief
She became known to Arab audiences as the presenter of “In the Orbit of the Forbidden”, which addressed sensitive social, religious and political subjects, as well as “She Is the Event”, a programme focused on women’s rights and equality. She also presented “They Told You”, which discussed stereotypes and misconceptions. Nassar was deputy editor-in-chief at France Médias Monde, the parent company of France 24, from January 2023 to October 2024.
- During 2024
Head of strategy and development
During 2024, she moved to Lebanon’s Issy Beirut, where she was head of strategy, transformation and development before becoming head of BBC Arabic. Issy Beirut is linked to Lebanese banker Antoine Sahnaui, whom journalistic investigations place within the institution’s funding and ownership network.
Those investigations also link his media and political activity to efforts to normalise relations between Lebanon and Israel, saying that platforms associated with him provide space for voices calling for normalisation and accession to the Abraham Accords. Sahnaui attended a dinner in Washington in July 2026 attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Nassar takes up her role after criticism of the Arabic service intensified from 2025.
Coverage criticism and corrections attributed to the service
In November that year, The Telegraph quoted the pro-Israel organisation CAMERA as saying that the service had issued 215 corrections and clarifications since 7 October 2023, following objections from the organisation to material it described as inaccurate or biased.
The figure was used to criticise the service’s performance, but it remains a statistic attributed to an organisation that takes a pro-Israel position and, on its own, does not constitute an independent assessment of BBC Arabic’s coverage of the war in Gaza as a whole. The criticism coincided with the leaking of a memorandum prepared by former editorial adviser Michael Prescott, which raised concerns about the service’s coverage of the war and the corporation’s mechanisms for addressing editorial problems.
Restructuring the service and tightening editorial oversight
On 11 November 2025, The Times reported that the corporation had begun looking for a permanent head of the service, while Edgar Jalad was serving as its acting editorial head. Responding to the criticism, the corporation’s chairman, Samir Shah, said in a letter published by the UK Parliament that the Arabic service team had been restructured.
He added that the corporation had appointed an Arabic-speaking official for quality and editorial standards and established a unit to examine the social-media accounts of participants in its programmes. Shah said Prescott’s memorandum did not provide a complete picture of the discussions, decisions and measures taken by the corporation.
The memorandum itself came under scrutiny during a parliamentary hearing held on 24 November 2025, when MP Rupa Huq questioned Prescott about the scope of the evidence on which he had relied and the absence of other views from within the corporation from his account. Prescott replied that changing one or two editors would not be enough to address the problems he said he had identified. Criticism continued during 2026.
In an interview published by The Jewish Chronicle on 2 September, former BBC chairman and former Ofcom chairman Michael Grade said the Arabic service had made mistakes in its coverage and needed to correct its course. Grade nevertheless rejected calls to close the service, stressing the importance of the news role it plays in the region.
