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Eye on the community meeting with the media professional Boulah Baakline Abu Haidar

Eye on the community meeting with the media professional Boulah Baakline Abu Haidar

By م.زهير الشاعر

Published: February 1, 2021

At Arab Canada News, we work to be a bridge of communication among members of the Arab community, and therefore we support any effort that contributes to introducing its members to each other and highlighting successful models among them to be an inspiring example for others..

Today we meet the distinguished journalist / Paula Baaklini Abu Haidar from Chin Radio broadcasting from the Canadian capital, Ottawa.

- First, we welcome you Ms. Paula and thank you for accepting the invitation to conduct this dialogue..

I am very happy to do this interview with you and I am honored to be your guest to meet with the members of the Arab community through your distinguished media platform Arab Canada News.

Abu Haidar: I worked at a radio station considered a school from which many prominent journalists graduated.

- We got to know you through Chin Radio which broadcasts from Ottawa and is followed by members of the Arab community in the Canadian capital Ottawa and many others in other places, so we would like to know more about the journalist Paula Abu Haidar who has a warm distinctive voice and a variety of purposeful topics and revolutionary positions.. I kindly ask you to tell us more about yourself?

I was in the fourth and final year of my university studies in political and administrative sciences when I started working at Sawt Lebanon Radio in Ashrafieh, which I consider a school from which many prominent journalists graduated, and there I achieved the beginning of my dream and passion for the microphone. I prepared and presented a number of diverse programs including cultural, social, and artistic ones, and also participated in presenting news bulletins.

I consider myself lucky that my start began there in Lebanon, the motherland; I gained professional experience and beautiful friendships that still last to this day..

The second stage, which I consider wonderful in my life, was joining the Arab Woman Channel Heya TV in Hazmieh. I was one of the faces who participated in its first launch, thanks to Mrs. Mary Badin Abu Samah who chose me to appear to viewers twice a week with a three-hour program rich in topics directed at women and with guests. Here, I discovered my love for the camera alongside my passion for the microphone. After that came a turning point in my life and my family's move to Canada.

Abu Haidar: Immigration is difficult, especially if it is from a homeland you love to a country that carries more than one question mark.

- How did you find the experience of immigration and moving to Canada, especially since you were a prominent television media figure in one of the Lebanese channels? Did you face difficulties at the beginning of your journey to Canada and how did you overcome them?

One of the hardest experiences was immigrating from a homeland I love with all its contradictions, leaving behind family, friends, places, and memories to a country that carries more than a question mark about the awaited fate. But by God's blessing and with the Virgin Mary accompanying us, the way was opened before us and we reached the stability, peace of mind, and love for this country that embraced us today.

- How do you evaluate the immigration project to Canada after these years, and do you encourage those who have the ambition for the better to take this step, especially as feelings of longing for the motherland are always clear with you?

Unfortunately, encouraging or discouraging does not add or detract because the conditions in our Arab world alone are enough to push for immigration, and this is the high and costly price that our mother country pays, which is the loss of qualified minds and talents.

But emotionally, as a person who loves his homeland and adores its people and its family, I wish everyone could stay in their homeland as long as they live with dignity and respect, otherwise...

- Your media career is rich, especially since you started your media journey with Sawt Lebanon Radio, which is considered a distinguished and professional media school that many prominent journalists graduated from. What has your media experience added to you, and how did your media start here in Canada serve you, especially since you now represent the most prominent voice on a radio station that offers programs in Arabic for the Arab community? And what has this Canadian media experience added to you?

As I mentioned, my beginning was at Sawt Lebanon where I learned a lot, from respecting the profession to respecting the listener, to delivering quality, gaining self-confidence, and the importance of media.

Then I moved to work through the small screen, which was the toughest test: how to deal with the camera and the viewer. From here, it was easier to work at Chin Radio and employ my experience and knowledge in this respected radio station that I consider my “second home”; the listeners here are my big family, especially with the creative colleague Jerry Absi, who is like a brother and dear friend.

For 17 years, I have appeared almost daily to the listeners, which has made me part of them and they part of me, and I communicate with them with all love and sincerity.

- During your media career, you offered diverse programs: cultural, social, news bulletins. Where do you find yourself more creative and distinguished today, and why?

True... when you love your profession, you do not differentiate between one program and another, but I tend to conduct dialogues and interviews to spread knowledge and shed light on the latest developments.

Abu Haidar: I am very keen on transparency and credibility and proud of the trust factor that links me to my program’s listeners.

- Culture is an important aspect to enrich the ideas of any media professional and stimulate their creativity. How do you derive your cultural information, and how do you judge the credibility of information in light of the availability of multiple and conflicting sources?

Not everyone who picks up the microphone is a media professional… The microphone is a great responsibility that requires awareness, wisdom, daily follow-up, in addition to culture and impartiality – that is objectivity. Also, the media professional must be rational and not rush after any news or information without verifying its source.

For this reason, I am very keen on transparency and credibility and proud of the trust factor that links me to my program’s listeners.

- What is your opinion on the media movement in the diaspora in all its forms: written, visual, and audio? And what is required from your point of view to elevate our media performance and to provide outstanding Arab media in the diaspora?

We can say that we are doing well compared to past years with the presence of a radio station like Chin Radio and a news website like yours that covers security, political, and COVID-19 developments around the clock. It is a comprehensive site and a trusted source that I follow regularly.

But we need to expand more to deliver our word, culture, and civilization to the largest number of Arab community members in the diaspora.

Abu Haidar: Any woman must start, and if she stumbles, she gathers her strength and continues, and she must reach her goal if she truly believes in it and in herself.

- As an Arab woman and a successful media professional, what advice do you give to Arab women who have ambition and capabilities but do not know how to take the first step?

First: Believe in themselves and know their abilities well and define what they want from this life... and a thousand miles start with a step.

Any woman must start, and if she stumbles, she gathers her strength and continues, and she must reach her goal if she truly believes in it and in herself.

Abu Haidar: Let us raise the slogan, yes to life, no to death.

-Through Arab Canada News, what is the message that Paula Abu Haidar wants to convey to the members of the Arab community in Canada?

First, I would like to thank you for hosting me through your respected site, wishing you continued success, and I thank the Arab community for their trust and loyalty to us, and I say to them, with you and because of you we continue.

It must be reminded here of the importance of adhering to all health procedures and government instructions so that we remain healthy in this era and so that we continue… Together we raise the slogan: yes to life, no to death.

We, in turn, thank you for accepting the invitation to this meeting and wish you more brilliance, and Chin Radio all success and prosperity.

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