Michael Viqueira is headed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…

The half-Spanish American journalist has been named the White House correspondent for Al Jazeera America, which is prepares to launch this year.

Working from the news organization’s D.C. bureau, Viqueira will cover White House daily press briefings, all presidential events and trips and other White House news and events.

“Michael Viqueira is a seasoned national correspondent with deep experience covering Washington politics,” said Ehab Al Shihabi, Executive Director of International Operations for Al Jazeera and the senior executive in charge of developing Al Jazeera America.

“Every political activity in the Capitol has an impact on the average American and his knowledge and extensive network of contacts will allow him to dig deeper to bring important news and information to light for the American public.”

Viqueira, a two-time News Emmy winner for his coverage of the financial crisis and 2008 elections, most recently reported from the White House for NBC’s Today, Nightly News, NBC Radio, MSNBC and MSNBC.com.

“This is a great opportunity, both because of Al Jazeera America’s commitment to the kind of straight-forward, hard-nosed journalism that all good reporters value, and because it’s tremendously exciting to be building something that will fill today’s critical need for real, unfiltered and fact-based news,” said Viqueira.