Riz Khan
International Broadcast Journalist & TV Host
Founding Member, BBC World Service TV News
Founding Member, CNN International
Founding Member & Director, Al Jazeera English
Career Highlights:
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First Presenter/Anchor of South Asian Descent in mainstream news at the BBC & CNN
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Historic & exclusive, first, live, global coverage from Saudi Arabia of the Hajj Pilgrimage (1998)
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First live, global interactive interview talk show -"Q&A with Riz Khan" on CNN International (1996)
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10,000+ interviews
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A Pioneering Career in Journalism
Few journalists have had the opportunity to pioneer international broadcasting the way Riz Khan has since he began his career in the mid-1980s.
From being a key member of the launch teams of BBC World Service TV News (now just BBC World) in November 1991, CNN International in May 1993, and Al Jazeera English in November 2006, Riz has focussed on interviewing and story telling that has led him to conduct more than 10,000 interviews during that time.
Riz also began moderating major international conferences and events in the late 1990s, initially at the request of then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, leading Riz to becoming an essential part of the event calendar, from numerous UN agency conferences and the World Economic Forum in Davos, to global summits in the field of business, politics, sports, entertainment, and human rights.
There is a difference between simply moderating and actually raising the standard of an event to its full potential – a commitment that Riz has always espoused in his philosophy of giving event organisers and participants the best possible outcome.
This has led to Riz being invited back as a key figure by many conferences year after year.
At WGM, we align with Riz Khan’s core philosophy in going beyond the expectation of our clients.
Scope of Work
Reporting & Presenting
Moderating & MC Hosting
Speaking & Panels
Media Training
Story telling through reporting, features, and documentary work has been a core aspect of Riz Khan's work as an international journalist with the world's major news networks. It remains his passion and he undertakes such work as a non-partisan, non-aligned freelance journalist for bona fide news organizations.
Riz has more than 25 years of experience as a professional moderator of conferences, summits, and other major events around the world, held by key organizations such as the UN and its agencies, World Bank, World Economic Forum, Dubai International Film Festival, Eurasian Media Forum, as well as an A-list of multinational corporations and organisations, from Cisco and Standard Chartered Bank, to Canon and the IFPA.
As well as the moderating and MC work, Riz is often asked to speak at conferences on issues ranging from the state of the global media and journalism, to world affairs and specialized topics where relevant.
Media training and instruction on public speaking skills is an area where Riz has substantial experience. He has helped coach a wide range of people from CEOs and corporate executives, to government staff, young leaders of tomorrow, and fellow journalists.
Books & Writing Projects
Riz is a successfully published author with, "Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince" - the best-selling biography of Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who was, at the time, the fourth richest man in the world on the Forbes list. Riz has also written a novel centered on the International news industry, "We Interrupt Our Programming..."
and is currently working on a book exploring how the world of media has evolved technically and the task of being a broadcast journalist has dramatically changed over the past four decades. Apart from columns and articles, Riz will also consider writing projects such as biographies of notable people.
