About Michael Jabri-Pickett
Michael Jabri-Pickett, a veteran journalist with 30 years of experience.
Until recently, Michael was the Editor-in-Chief of Khaleej Times.
Now, he appears regularly as a global affairs commentator on Al Arabiya English, offering insights on international events and trends.
With 22 years of leadership in GCC newsrooms and a career that has spanned Canada, Japan, Qatar, and the UAE, Michael’s work has always focused on telling stories that resonate with local communities.
With a graduate degree in journalism and five years at the National Post in Toronto, he moved to the UAE in 2003. He has worked at seven news organisations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Podcast Script
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson (00:00): Hi, this is Gus Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Daily Euro Times, back on the Euro Digest.
Today we are lucky to have Michael Jabri Pickett, former Editor-in-Chief of the Khaleeji Times (KT), now World Affairs commentator on Al-Arabiya English in Abu Dhabi, with over 30 years of experience in the field working in journalism and over 22 years of experience in the Gulf.
Former Editor-in-Chief & World Affairs Commentator, Michael Jabri-Pickett: I appreciate the invitation.
Motivations to Enter the Journalism Field
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson: Of course. I guess, first things first, you started your career at Reuters as an intern in Canada. What made you get involved in journalism?
Former Editor-in-Chief & World Affairs Commentator, Michael Jabri-Pickett: So, I’ll step back a little bit before that.
After I finished my undergrad, my wife and I wanted to move to Japan.
(00:51) I taught for a summer in Japan in 1990. We got married, and I graduated.
We moved to Japan, lived there for five years. I had a wonderful time; my kids were born there and I was doing some publishing.
I was also working in PR. I was trying my hand at many different things, as Guy Jeans would do in Japan at that time.
However, I wanted to go back to school. I wanted to get my master’s.
(01:20) I applied to many places in Toronto, in Canada, in Europe. When I was going through the application process, my wife said, maybe you should apply for a university that’s called Ryerson.
Today it’s called ‘Toronto Metropolitan University‘.
It has probably the best journalism program in the country.
I wasn't nuts about that, but I thought I was not going go back and deconstruct 18th century romantic poets.
(01:49) That was what I wanted to do and my wife was thinking, from a more practical sense, maybe you should try and find something that you can actually get paid for.
I applied to Ryerson and as it turned out.. of the five universities I applied to, that was the only one that I got into.
Pratical Experience On Top of Academia
It was the best career decision I could have made.
That was a two-year program and between the first and second year, I did an internship at the Toronto Star.
(02:19) Going back for the second year, that’s when I did the internship at Reuters.
To answer your question, I got into it because like most people who start out, at least in my generation, we like to write, we like to read, and we like stories.
We Like to Write, Read, and Tell Stories
I was a sports guy and I think some of the best North American writers are in sports departments because they’re not just going to a sporting event and giving you the score.
Crème de la Crème: Sport Journalism
(02:49) These writers are actually going to tell you a story out of that one particular game. In baseball, for instance, you have 162 games. If you’re only doing the home games, you’re coming up with 81 different stories.
That’s a lot of work. You have to be creative and you have to be incredibly determined to beat the competition and to find something that your readers are going to like. That is what I grew up on.
(03:18) I really wanted to tell stories. While I didn’t end up deconstructing poetry, I did end up doing something that I think in the long run has been so much more successful for me, so much more satisfying for me.
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson (03:43): Yeah, that is really interesting. You talk about telling people’s stories… what do you think in your 30 year plus career is the most important story you’ve told?
Former Editor-in-Chief & World Affairs Commentator, Michael Jabri-Pickett: I don’t know if there’s one particular story.
I think one of the great things about being in journalism in the GCC is that you can do stories that nobody has ever done.
GCC Journalism: Pace of Change, Comes Opportunity
Things are changing at such a fast pace in this part of the world.
I don't know if… I certainly don't subscribe to this idea, West is best, right?
You'll get some… I'll use this poor analogy perhaps, but you'll get…Brits from London who come out and they want to bring civilisation to the UAE.
I know quite a lot of you know this, which this happens on a regular basis.
(04:39) When you’re dealing with those people who have that skewed impression of what the UAE is like, you can start to talk about some of the really important stories that matter here, where you’re changing people’s perceptions about what they think the UAE, specifically Dubai, is about.
Local News is Best
It’s a wonderfully satisfying experience to see comments on social media that are so complimentary of the reporting because they didn’t think you’d be able to tell those stories because they thought they were taboo.
I don’t know if there’s one story.
I think it’s more a case for me, it’s always local news.
Local news is so much more satisfying than any of the big global stories.
Advice for Budding Journalists
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson (05:24):Earlier before we started, you were talking obviously about your son starting out in journalism.
What is your advice for budding journalists wanting to get involved in the trade, especially if they haven’t studied journalism?
For instance, I didn’t study journalism like you did, for example. What would your advice be?
Former Editor-in-Chief & World Affairs Commentator, Michael Jabri-Pickett: I think it depends on a couple of options for people.
Risk & Opportunity
You’re doing one of the more (un-)conventional, which is you’re leaving your home country to take advantage of an opportunity
(05:54) Somebody with more experience could probably do as well as you, but they don’t have the opportunity to leave their home country.
Either they have financial responsibilities or they just don’t want to leave. But you’ve taken an approach that some of us have taken, which is, I might not have that same opportunity if I were to stay in my home country, but what else am I interested in?
(06:23) So in your case, you’re interested in the Middle East, you’re interested in Arabic, and so you thought… how can I combine that?
Oh, I’ll go somewhere, Abu Dhabi, and this is where I’m gonna sort of start that journey, maybe take advantage of an introduction, maybe try… and find somebody who is able to give you a shot, or back home, you need to jump through so many hoops.
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson: Yeah, I wouldn’t be in this role in the UK, I think.
(06:48) I would not be in this role until I'd be in like my late 40s or something, which is crazy.
Former Editor-in-Chief & World Affairs Commentator, Michael Jabri-Pickett: Since you’re doing new media, I would say that maybe you would have an opportunity because I think a lot of young people are on the various new media and social media platforms at a lot of the established places.
My advice to somebody who’s starting out, and I have these conversations over Zoom with my son on a, certainly on a weekly basis, sometimes on a daily basis.
Mentoring, Pitching, and Persistence
(07:18) The only thing I can say, my last job when I was at KT, I had colleagues who were younger than my kids.
I wanted to always make sure that we found the time so that they could come and talk to me about what they think is important.
(07:47) I think for young people today, they have to come up with as many story ideas as possible, and they need to pitch as many different people as possible.
They need to do everything they possibly can to hound people in a polite semi-professional way.
I look at how I started out, I got an email address and a number for somebody where I just contacted them politely on a regular basis.
I'd email them and then I'd call and then I'd call and then I'd email them.
I finally wore them down and I know I’ve hired people just in the last couple of years who have taken that approach.
(08:17) It is not just journalism.
It’s pretty much anybody who’s trying to break into any industry. I think you have to have that persistence and that determination. And you have to keep knocking on people’s doors.
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson: Definitely. I mean, I found this role through a contact on LinkedIn and reaching out to people on LinkedIn.
So my advice, building on what Michael has said, be persistent and look for the niche.
Keep up with Daily Euro Times for more updates!
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