Dateline to have two hosts

Today SBS announced that Dateline will have two presenters next year. Yalda Hakim and Mark Davis will host the program, replacing veteran broadcaster George Negus. He is moving to Network TEN.

Hakim and Davis currently work as reporters on Dateline.

Dateline’s Executive Producer Peter Charley said each will continue to work as reporters. One will present the program while the other is on assignment.

Charley said, “The idea of putting working Video Journalists in the studio to host the program returns Dateline to the essence of what has made it such a distinctive program – Video Journalism lies at the heart of what we do.”

“Yalda and Mark represent the cutting edge of Video Journalism, the core of Dateline’s unique approach to story-telling.”

27 year old Yalda Hakim speaks five languages. She is acknowledged as a highly talented reporter. Last year she won the United Nations Media Peace Prize for Best Australian Television News coverage. She has filed stories globally, including from Afghanistan, Norway and India. Born in Afghanistan she fled Kabul with her family when Russia invaded. Hakim has been reporting for Dateline for the past two years.

Mark Davis has hosted Dateline before. He is a pioneer of Video Journalism and one of Australia’s most respected journalists and presenters. The high standards of his work have become the benchmark for Dateline. He won five Walkley awards, including the prestigious Gold Walkley for Blood Money.  Most recently Davis reported on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Dutch politician Gert Wilders.

Dateline first aired in 1980 on SBS Radio, 3EA (Ethnic Australia) in Melbourne. In 1984 it was picked up by SBS television.