With the launch of Sky News Arabia fast approaching, Abu Dhabi Week caught up with director of news Nart Bouran to find out more about the channel and what it will mean for the capital

What can viewers expect from Sky News Arabia?

It’s a top quality news channel that depends on breaking news with a new approach to presentation which is vibrant, fresh and modern.

It’s a 24-hour rolling news channel relying on breaking news combined with top quality journalism.

When will it be launched?

In the spring of 2012.

Why was Abu Dhabi chosen as the home for Sky News Arabia?

This is a 50:50 venture between Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC) and BSKYB, and ADMIC is based in Abu Dhabi. Aside from that Abu Dhabi is the place to be. It’s a new, developing, vibrant city: politically, economically, socially – it’s on the up. Abu Dhabi is a natural choice given our ownership and the attributes of Abu Dhabi, so really it was an easy decision.

I understand that Sky News Arabia hired 370 new members of staff. Tell me about the logistics of hiring so many employees in a short space of time.

We hired a number of technical, operational and creative staff. The new staff will mostly be based in Abu Dhabi although some will be located in our offices abroad. This was one of our biggest challenges because we were trying to set a new standard of high quality recruitment procedures.

We did things differently by launching our recruitment portal online. We received over 18,000 applications. Firstly we had to go through each one of the applications and then we shortlisted the most suitable candidates. After that we held interviews and selected only the best to come and work for us.

We wanted to employ a mixture of people, we tried as much as possible to implement diversity in terms of nationality and different types of work experience. Diversity is so important in order to be Pan-Arab.

How did you get the job as director of news?

Good question (laughing). Our selection process started with me, I was one of the many people who went through the rigorous interviewing and selection process. I was interviewed in February 2011 and I moved out from London in March to start work here.

My career background and previous work experience in Abu Dhabi were obviously taken into consideration. One of the benefits of hiring me was that I was here before so I understood the culture and how to work here.

Tell me about your career background.

I have been a journalist for over 20 years. I worked for Thomson Reuters in London as director of television for the Reuters News Agency before I moved here. Prior to that I was the director general of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation and before that

I was the director of news for Abu Dhabi TV. I have worked throughout the Middle East covering stories in Iraq, Algeria and Libya and Yemen.

How will Sky News Arabia impact on Abu Dhabi?

Having a high quality media entity is something very positive. The quality of output is going to be a wonderful addition to the media scene and the business scene in Abu Dhabi. Sky is a big brand and like other Abu Dhabi-based success stories we hope it will be a success story.

It does feel different; the tempo, the speed of construction and putting it all together. It’s a new experience for everyone who is working on it. It’s setting the bar very high from conception to implementation. It’s very exciting and a fantastic experience for everyone involved. We are looking forward to the launch.

Sky News Arabia is based in the TwoFour54 media zone in Abu Dhabi. It will be transmitted in both high definition (HD) and standard definition and will be free-to-air across the Arab world. Catriona Doherty