As audiences increasingly turn to multiple platforms, including mobile devices, for news and information, this expansion will allow United States and non-US consumers alike to access the Network’s journalism and content wherever and whenever they want.
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Al Jazeera cited “the economic landscape of the media environment”. That ability was taken away after the American-centric network’s launch in August 2013.
The channel will shut down operations on April 30, but Al Jazeera still plans to “bring new digital content into America” in the digital realm, Anstey said at the announcement.
The media network has been battling business woes and internal controversies that have led to the departure of some senior executives.
The wind-down comes amid turmoil at Al Jazeera America.
An Al Jazeera spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for comment. I greatly respect the unrivaled commitment and excellent work of our team, which has created great journalism.
Al Jazeera America says it will stop operating by April 30. Late last month, a former Al-Jazeera staffer named Matthew Luke filed a lawsuit alleging that Mahmud made anti-Semitic remarks, interfered in news and programming decisions outside his areas of responsibility, cut women out of projects and routinely denigrated women in the news room, even those who out-ranked him.
Al-Jazeera acquired its United States cable channel from Current TV, a group that included former vice president Al Gore and reached some 40 million households. “We have increasingly set ourselves apart from all the rest, and the achievements of the past two-and-a-half years should be a source of enormous pride for everyone”.
One issue is that Al Jazeera America failed to secure broad distribution in the U.S.-in part, according to people familiar with the matter, because of distributors’s concerns about its Arabic-language sister channel’s reputation for having an anti-American slant in the past.
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From the start, Al-Jazeera faced a tough sell to USA audiences because of its history in the Middle East, where it was the outlet for videos distributed by Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera America scrambled to assert control of its image, denouncing outside attacks on the network and announcing new programming shifts.
