Al-Jazeera America signing off
Qatari-owned cable news channel never caught on in U.S.
Al-Jazeera America, the cable news network, will shut down at the end of April, less than three years after going on the air, the network told its staff Wednesday.
In a memo to the staff, Al-Jazeera America’s chief executive, Al Anstey, said the “decision by Al-Jazeera America’s board is driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace.”
“I know the closure of AJAM will be a massive disappointment for everyone here who has worked tirelessly for our long-term future,” he continued, using the company acronym. “The decision that has been made is in no way because AJAM has done anything but a great job. Our commitment to great journalism is unrivaled.”
The New York-based network, part of a media empire owned by the royal family of the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, started up in August 2013 after its parent company paid $500 million to buy Current TV, a cable channel founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
Al-Jazeera America was billed as a straightforward, nonpartisan alternative to other news channels and was often praised by news analysts for the thoroughness and objectivity of its reporting. It hired a number of TV news veterans as program hosts and managers, including people from NBC, CNN and Fox News.
But the channel ran into trouble even before it started. AT&T dropped it from its channel lineup over a contract dispute. Time Warner Cable also dropped its predecessor, citing low ratings, several months before Al-Jazeera America went on the air.
It then spent months rebuilding its distribution. As of Wednesday, it was available in about 64 million households, or about a third fewer than its major rivals.
The channel also was wracked by turnover among its top executives — Ehab Al Shihabi was replaced in May by Anstey as the channel’s chief executive — and a lawsuit was filed last year by a former employee alleging sexual bias and anti-Semitism in the workplace.
The decision to shut down comes a month after Al-Jazeera America broadcast an undercover investigative report called “The Dark Side” that alleged the use of performance-enhancing drugs by star professional athletes. Among others, it said the wife of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning received shipments of banned substances around the time in 2011 that Manning was recovering from a series of neck surgeries that threatened his playing career.
Manning has denied using any banned substances.
Two of the athletes named in the story, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, have sued the network, reporter Deborah Davies, and an athlete named Liam Collins who conducted undercover interviews.
When told Wednesday of Al-Jazeera America’s plans to shut down, Manning said, “I’m sure it’s going to be just devastating to all their viewers.”
Al-Jazeera continues to maintain an Arabic-language channel and its English-language forerunner of Al-Jazeera America called Al-Jazeera English. Both channels are distributed outside the United States.