Kamahl S. Santamaria
Santamaria preparing for an interview in 2011.
Born (1980-02-14) 14 February 1980
Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation(s)Journalist, news anchor
Years active1998–2022
Career
Station(s)TVNZ (2022)

Al Jazeera English (2005–2022)

Sky News Australia (2002–2004)

TV3 New Zealand (1998–2001)
Previous show(s)newsgrid; Counting the Cost; Sky Business Report with David Koch
Websitekamahlsantamaria.com

Kamahl Santamaria is a New Zealand television journalist who achieved international prominence as an anchor for Al Jazeera between 2005 and 2022. In April 2022, he joined the hosting team of Breakfast, on New Zealand's TVNZ 1, but resigned abruptly after a brief period on air.[1] Allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards female employees subsequently emerged.

Early life

Santamaria was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. His parents were born in Aden, Yemen; his father's family originates from the Goa region of India, where many have Portuguese surnames. He is one of two children.[2][3]

He received his secondary education at Macleans College, where he was in Kupe House.[4] In 1997, he was appointed House Captain.

Career

TV3 (New Zealand)

Santamaria began his journalistic career straight out of high school in 1998, as a news and sports reporter for TV3 in New Zealand. He also moved up to producing nightly sports bulletins, under the influence of veteran New Zealand journalists Tony Ciprian and Angus Gilles.

At the end of his time at TV3 in late 2001, Santamaria was selected to cover the Atlantic Rowing Race. He was on his way to Barbados – where the event was due to finish – when he was grounded at New York's JFK Airport following the American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Queens, New York. In the event, this made him the only reporter from New Zealand or Australia to be able to cover the disaster on the ground.[5]

Santamaria has remained visible in New Zealand media in recent years, with regular radio slots on RadioLive, NewstalkZB, and RNZ, and articles for The Spinoff.[6] In 2019 and 2020, he was a judge for New Zealand's Voyager Media Awards.[7]

Sky News (Australia)

After three years working on TV3's flagship nightly news show 3 News, Santamaria moved to Australia where he established and ran Sky News Australia's Melbourne business bureau, from the Docklands Broadcast Centre of Channel Seven Melbourne.

He was a reporter, presenter and producer on the nightly Sky Business Report with David Koch.[8]

Al Jazeera English (Qatar)

Kamahl, and Bloomberg's Emily Chang hosting a session at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016, Palo Alto

In 2004, Santamaria moved to New York and London, and in 2005 was recruited by Al Jazeera English to become a news presenter in Doha, Qatar.

Over 16 years, he fronted news and current affairs across the channel – news bulletins, the Newshour, discussion show Inside Story – and between September 2009 and November 2016 was the regular host of the weekly business and economics programme Counting the Cost.[9]

He was also the primary presenter of Al Jazeera's interactive newshour newsgrid which ran between November 2016 and March 2019. The show was nominated for an International Emmy Award in October 2018.[10][11]

As a reporter and field anchor, Santamaria also reported for Al Jazeera from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany, Dubai, France, the United States, the Philippines and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He was the electoral "number cruncher" for the U.S. Presidential Elections in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 and in January 2021, went on to anchor Al Jazeera's U.S. presidential inauguration coverage from Washington DC.[12][13]

On 17 March 2022, Santamaria announced on-air that he was leaving Al Jazeera after 16 and a half years.[14]

TVNZ (New Zealand)

Santamaria returned to New Zealand in March 2022, joining TVNZ to present the network's Breakfast programme from April 2022, replacing John Campbell.[15] His last appearance on screen was on 18 May 2022. A subsequently discredited announcement was made on 28 May 2022 that he had resigned for "family reasons" and would be leaving effective immediately, only a month into his time on the show.[16] It was later reported that he had resigned after a female staff member at TVNZ had complained about "inappropriate behaviour" from him.[17] It was also reported that complaints of a similar nature had been made against him during his time at Al Jazeera, raising concerns about the hiring process TVNZ had followed.[18][19][20][21]

Following an investigation into the hiring process, Paul Yurisich, who had worked with Santamaria at Al Jazeera and had hired him at TVNZ, stepped down from his role as head of news and current affairs at TVNZ.[22][23] In mid October 2022, Santamaria issued a public apology on the left-wing current affairs blog The Daily Blog, stating "that what he believed to be "a bit of banter" and flirtatious behaviour was not appropriate." In addition, Santamaria claimed that some of the allegations leveled against him over the past four months lacked context, were lies, or amounted to a "rewriting" of history.[24][25][26]

On 27 November 2023 Santamaria announced that he would be selling his house to fund legal action against TVNZ.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "Breakfast wars: Will Kamahl Santamaria be TVNZ's viewing weapon?". NZ Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "Article from North and South magazine, March 2014" (PDF).
  3. ↑ "From Middle East to middle New Zealand: Kamahl Santamaria on joining Breakfast". New Zealand Herald. 27 April 2022.
  4. ↑ "International News Presenter and Former Student, Kamahl Santamaria, Visits Macleans College". Macleans College. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  5. ↑ "About Kamahl". Kamahl Santamaria. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Santamaria, Kamahl. "Kamahl Santamaria". The Spinoff. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "Judges 2019". Voyager Media Awards. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  8. ↑ "About Kamahl". Kamahl Santamaria. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "Kamahl Santamaria". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "Al Jazeera English debuts interactive newscast from new Doha facility". Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  11. ↑ "Programmes". Kamahl Santamaria. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  12. ↑ "Kamahl Santamaria". World Media Summit Doha 2016. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  13. ↑ Santamaria, Kamahl (24 January 2021), AL JAZEERA: Presidential Inauguration 2021, retrieved 22 February 2021
  14. ↑ "Kamahl Santamaria signs off after 16 years at Al Jazeera". NZ Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  15. ↑ "Kamahl Santamaria 'honoured' to step into new Breakfast role". The New Zealand Herald. 5 April 2022. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  16. ↑ "Broadcasting Minister weighs in on sudden departure of new TVNZ Breakfast host Kamahl Santamaria". The New Zealand Herald. 29 May 2022. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  17. ↑ Plumb, Simon (29 May 2022). "TVNZ host Kamahl Santamaria quit after complaint by female colleague". Stuff. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  18. ↑ Sowman-Lund, Stewart (1 July 2022). "TVNZ admits it didn't follow proper protocol when hiring Kamahl Santamaria". The Spinoff. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  19. ↑ "Complaints made about ex-Breakfast host Kamahl Santamaria at previous employer". Newshub. 29 May 2022. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  20. ↑ "Concerns TVNZ host Kamahl Santamaria was hired without consultation". The New Zealand Herald. 29 May 2022. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  21. ↑ Plumb, Simon (30 May 2022). "Government asks TVNZ's board to confirm hiring process of Kamahl Santamaria was proper". Stuff. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  22. ↑ Earley, Melanie (27 July 2022). "TVNZ news head resigns after review into hiring of Kamahl Santamaria". Stuff. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  23. ↑ "TVNZ news boss resigns over Kamahl Santamaria saga". NZ Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  24. ↑ Santamaria, Kamahl (12 October 2022). "Statement from Kamahl Santamaria". The Daily Blog. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  25. ↑ "Former TVNZ presenter apologises for behaviour". The Star. Allied Press. 12 October 2022. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  26. ↑ "Kamahl Santamaria apologises for 'flirtatious' workplace behaviour". 1 News. 12 October 2022. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  27. ↑ reporter, Stuff (27 November 2023). "Kamahl Santamaria selling house to fund legal case against TVNZ". Stuff. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
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