Al Jazeera America, the American cable news outlet owned by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, plans to shut down less than three years after its much-ballyhooed launch, unable to overcome low ratings, operational problems and a lack of advertisers.
The cable news network will be phased out by April 30, according to a memo that was emailed to staffers Wednesday. “As many as 700 staff members” could lose their jobs, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources. Al Jazeera couldn’t be immediately reached to verify the number of people affected by the move. The NewsGuild of New York, the union that began representing 46 digital journalists at Al Jazeera America last year, says it was told by the company that it has a total of 291 employees.
Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar, launched the U.S.-based network in August, 2013 after buying Current TV, the cable news channel co-founded by Al Gore, for about $500 million earlier in the year.
The decision to go out of business was “driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace,” AJAM CEO Al Anstey was quoted as saying in an AJAM report.
“I know the closure of AJAM will be a massive disappointment for everyone here who has worked tirelessly for our long-term future,” Anstey wrote in an email to staffers.
“The wind down of Al Jazeera America is not expected to have any impact on other businesses or operations of the network,” wrote Mostefa Souag, acting director general of Al Jazeera Media Network, in the note. Al Jazeera Media Network plans to expand its “international digital services to broaden its multi-platform presence in the United States,” Souag wrote.
Source: USA Today | Roger Yu