Financial Times’ Borzou Daragahi will join BuzzFeed News as a Middle East correspondent, and The Washington Post’s Anup Kaphle will join BuzzFeed News as a senior world editor. Middle East correspondent Sheera Frenkel will switch beats to focus on cybersecurity, which is a new beat for BuzzFeed News.
“With these two hires and with Sheera’s shift, it almost feels like a next level of growth for us at BuzzFeed World,” said Miriam Elder, BuzzFeed News’ world editor.
They’re building a combination of energetic reporters who are building their careers with people coming to BuzzFeed News with experience, she said. “It’s just such a nice balance to have.”
Daragahi is a three-time Pulitzer finalist and covered the Middle East for FT. Previously, he was the Baghdad bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.
“I’ve been a fan of Borzou’s reporting for as long as I can remember,” Elder said. “He’s just one of the essential voices that you look to when you’re reading about the Middle East.”
Daragahi’s stories are powerful and he has keen insight into the region, she said, “but he also lives online.”
Kaphle is The Washington Post’s digital foreign editor, and his position as a senior world editor is a new one for BuzzFeed News. Like Daragahi, Elder says she’s also followed Kaphle’s works for years.
“He has really helped define what The Washington Post’s voice is in the digital space for foreign reporting,” Elder said. Kaphle has also helped the Post balance enterprise reporting with “the kind of work that you want to do for the Internet.”
