In The Huffington Post's early days, its hiring strategy focused on attracting scrappy, up-and-coming journalists whose hustle and familiarity with the way news spread on the web often made up for what their names lacked in journalistic star power. If the HuffPost Streaming Network's hiring of its first on-air personality is any indication, the yet-to-be-launched online streaming network is taking a similar approach.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, most recently the co-host of an Al Jazeera English TV show called "The Stream," is joining HPSN as its first producer-host. "The Stream," which also operates an online community, covers world news while integrating viewer commentary from social networks into its telecasts.

Mr. Shihab-Eldin, a former graduate school classmate of this reporter, previously worked for the PBS documentary series "Wide Angle" and as a news producer for The New York Times.

The Huffington Post confirmed the hiring in a statement: "We're excited that Ahmed is joining HuffPost Streaming Network as a producer-host. His energy, intelligence and social-media prowess are very much in sync with the HuffPost DNA."

Mr. Shihab-Eldin said he couldn't provide many details on the network's plans, but made this promise:

"[I]t will be both disruptive and daring," he wrote in a Facebook message, "and that is [probably] what will make it worth watching, sharing, tweeting, criticizing ... relevant."