Overview
Join WNYC reporter Arun Venugopal, BBC Newshour host Nuala McGovern, BBC Assistant Editor Heba Ayoub, and Director of the MPI office at New York University School of Law Muzaffar Chishti for a conversation that takes you beyond the headlines on immigration and migrants and into a deeper understanding of what’s happening in our community and around the world, and how governments might best address the challenges. We’ll also get behind the scenes of the BBC Newshour’s coverage internationally and WNYC’s locally, and take your questions as well.
Arun Venugopal
Credit: Photo provided by WNYC
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station’s “U.S. of Anxiety” program.
Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR’s “Fresh Air.” He lives with his family in Queens.
Nuala McGovern
Credit: Photo provided by BBC
Nuala McGovern is an award-winning BBC News TV and Radio presenter with over 20 year’s experience on air who became a regular host of BBC Newshour in 2023. She is a well-known voice on BBC having hosted key programmes for BBC Radio 4, BBC 5Live and the BBC News TV channel, as well as the BBC World Service. Nuala hosted BBC OS for six years, including co-creating 90 documentaries of OS Conversations on Covid, Black Lives Matter, US Election and Climate Change winning a 2021 AIB. Nuala also won an AIB award for coverage of the Resignation of Robert Mugabe with OS. Previously Nuala was an Executive Producer at WNYC, New York Public Radio where she received a Peabody for excellence in broadcasting and for radio that creates community which is her passion.
Heba Ayoub
Credit: Photo provided by BBC
Heba Ayoub is the Deputy Editor of Newshour, the BBC World Service’s leading international current affairs program, as well as a number of other international news shows that are broadcast on the World Service and in the UK. Heba previously worked in the BBC’s Politics team across TV, radio and online, covering a febrile political time in British politics including several general elections and the Brexit referendum. Before joining Newshour Heba worked across several news programmes, including Today, the BBC’s flagship news and current affairs programme in the UK.
Muzaffar Chishti
Credit: Photo provided by Artist
Muzaffar Chishti is a lawyer and Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), and Director of MPI’s office at NYU School of Law. His work focuses on U.S. immigration policy at the federal, state, and local levels; the intersection of labor and immigration law; immigration enforcement; civil liberties; and immigrant integration.