Kate O’Brian, a 30-year ABC News veteran, will guide editorial direction of Al Jazeera America when it debuts Aug. 20.

As ABC’s senior VP-news, O’Brian was responsible for newsgathering at the network’s bureaus and business, law, medical and investigative units.

 That editorial oversight included ABC News Radio and affiliate relations. She will be based in New York.

Mostefa Souag, interim head of AJA, said O’Brian “understands what Americans want to see and hear when they watch the news.”

Her arrival “speaks volumes about what we intend to do and how we intend to do it,” according to his statement.

Arab language Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, has come under criticism for its alleged bias coverage of the political uprising in Egypt.

That coverage was perceived as slanted toward the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of the recently deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Qatar funneled billions of dollars to keep the government of Morsi, who was Egypt’s first democratically elected president, afloat.

It now supports Egyptian Army-installed leadership.

AJA also has named CNN’s David Dross senior VP for news programming, Stony Brook University School of Journalism associate dean Marcy McGinnis senior VP for newsgathering and CNN’s Sharon High-Bassalik senior VP for documentaries.

It will kick off with a dozen bureaus in the U.S.