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Tag: al jazeera
Al Jazeera America To Close; AJ-English Will Expand Digital Operations In U.S.

Al Jazeera America To Close; AJ-English Will Expand Digital Operations In U.S.

After three years of financial struggles, Al Jazeera America (AJAM) executives announced that the network will stop broadcasting at the end of April, while its sister company announced that it would expand English-language digital operations in the U.S. The closure of AJAM marks the final chapter of a turbulent existence, in which the channel invested heavily but failed to gain a meaningful market share in American television news.

AJAM’s chief executive, Al Anstey, claimed that the network’s lack of success was due to an unsustainable business model. In a memo to AJAM staff, he said the “decision is driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in an increasingly digital world, and because of the current global financial challenges.”

Media reporters speculated that the network failed in part because of its hesitancy to provide the sort of hard-hitting coverage its parent company was known for. AJAM operated more as Al Jazeera Lite, with leadership perhaps too worried of, once again, being branded an “enemy media” channel or clashing with the American government as publicly as it did during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Glenn Greenwald certainly thought so, writing in his column on The Intercept: “From the start, employees complained vociferously that network executives were paralyzed by fear, believing they had to avoid all hints of bias and opinion in order to steer clear of what these executives regarded as the lethal stench of the Al Jazeera brand for American audiences.”

Except that stench wasn’t lethal at all. Prior to the arrival of AJAM in 2012, roughly half of Al Jazeera’s 22 million monthly web views came from the U.S. The livestream was particularly popular with American viewers who wanted news of equal or better quality than what was homegrown in the U.S. But the deal Al Jazeera made with the American cable companies involved getting rid of its online livestream and automatically redirecting users to AJAM’s website. The network was only available in 60 million American homes, barely half of the 100 million homes that have cable. Al Jazeera employees privately complained that their U.S.-based web views took a nose dive once the new channel was set up.

The low price of oil was another factor in the network’s folding. Oil is important to Al Jazeera because the media network is reliant on the Qatari government for funds. With oil hovering around $30 a barrel, the shortfall in oil revenue forced Al Jazeera to spend more judiciously. This was combined with a hiring freeze that has been in place since the leadership of the channel changed from Wadah Khanfar, a long-time Palestinian resident of Qatar, to Ahmad bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of the ruling family.

Al Jazeera English released its own press release, in which it said it was going to expand digital operations in the U.S. in coming months. A subhead briefly mentioned that AJAM was going offline in the coming months. But the biggest takeaway is that Al Jazeera English said it was “its intention to expand its existing international digital services to broaden its multi-platform presence in the United States.” While it is unclear what a broadened, multi-platform presence will look like, hopefully it will include unrestricted access to Al Jazeera English’s livestream — just as it was before Al Jazeera America came along.

Photo: An Al Jazeera English newsroom. Sarah Mirk/Flickr

Endorse This: Knights Of The Round CPAC

Endorse This: Knights Of The Round CPAC

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The crowd at CPAC sure talked gung-ho about fighting ISIS. But just to find out how serious they really were, Australian comedian Dan Ilic went right in to see whether he could sign up any volunteers — to be knights in a holy war, complete with his own medieval costume. Ilic was even claiming divine inspiration — from Bill O’Reilly.

Click above to watch this absurd performance at the conservative gathering — though maybe it was too easy for him to blend in — then share this video!

Video via Al Jazeera Plus.

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Al Gore Sues Al-Jazeera America For Allegedly Withholding $65 Million

Al Gore Sues Al-Jazeera America For Allegedly Withholding $65 Million

By Saba Hamedy and Meg James, Los Angeles Times

Former Vice President Al Gore has sued Al-Jazeera America, claiming the satellite TV service owned by the Qatari royal family has withheld $65 million of the proceeds from the sale of cable channel Current TV.

Gore and his business partner, Joel Hyatt, founded Current Media a decade ago as a youth-oriented news and pop culture channel. It struggled for traction and in early 2013, the partners sold the channel to Al-Jazeera America Holdings for $500 million. The channel was rebranded as news service Al-Jazeera America.

On Friday, Gore and Hyatt filed a fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against Al-Jazeera America Holdings Inc. in a Delaware court. The suit contends that Al-Jazeera America withheld $65 million, which was held in an escrow account.

The suit was filed on behalf of Gore, Hyatt and other unnamed shareholders of Current Media.

“Al-Jazeera America wants to give itself a discount on the purchase price that was agreed to nearly two years ago,” Gore’s attorney David Boies said in a statement on Friday.

Following the January 2013 sale of the channel, $85 million of the agreed-upon purchase price was placed in an escrow account until Gore and his partners could satisfy some indemnification obligations, according to a public court filing in Delaware.

Gore and his partner received $20 million of that amount — but $65 million remained in the escrow account.

In late June, Al-Jazeera America submitted five claims against the $65 million. Gore’s attorneys said Al-Jazeera was attempting to “manufacture several ways to retain all of the escrow balance for itself in express violation of the merger agreement,” according to a statement by one of Gore’s lawyers filed in conjunction with the lawsuit.

The escrow period ended July 2, at which time Al-Jazeera was supposed to turn over the funds.

“We are asking the court to order Al-Jazeera America to stop wrongfully withholding the escrow funds that belong to Current’s former shareholders,” said Boies, the attorney who famously represented Gore in 2000 during the tense recount of the U.S. presidential election.

A representative for Al-Jazeera America said the network’s outside counsel was reviewing the lawsuit, and that it might offer comment later.

Gore and Hyatt filed the complaint under seal, apparently at the request of Al-Jazeera America. A copy of the court docket noted that the lawsuit was a “confidential” filing.

Gore and Hyatt said they want the document open to the public and have asked the judge to unseal the filing.

“We do not believe that our complaint should be sealed,” Boies said. “We have therefore filed the complaint under seal until the court can resolve this issue. We expect that the court will reject Al-Jazeera America’s argument.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Egypt Authorities Likely Committed Crimes Against Humanity, Group Says

Egypt Authorities Likely Committed Crimes Against Humanity, Group Says

By Laura King, Los Angeles Times

A leading international human rights group asserted Tuesday that Egyptian authorities likely committed crimes against humanity in the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators last August, most of them supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt sharply disputed the findings of New York-based Human Rights Watch and barred senior representatives of the organization from entering the country to publicly present their report, which was based on a yearlong investigation.

The group urged that an international commission of inquiry be convened to investigate the “widespread and systematic” killings in Cairo’s Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square and several other locales. At least 817 people and possibly more than 1,000 were killed by security forces at Rabaa alone, Human Rights Watch said.

The document calls for an independent probe of the role of President Abdel Fattah Sisi, the then-military chief, and other senior military and security officials. It alleges that the security forces were essentially given carte blanche to use deadly force against protesters, and that the official plan for dealing with Morsi backers envisioned the likely deaths of several thousand demonstrators.

The violence erupted six weeks after the military removed Morsi from office after mass demonstrations demanding an end to his rule. Morsi, who is now on trial for a variety of capital offenses, was Egypt’s first freely elected president.

The Egyptian government conducted its own investigation of the deaths in mid-August of last year, when pro-Morsi sit-in camps were dispersed by police and soldiers. A government-backed human rights panel put the death toll at less than 700, and found — without implicating particular officials — that both sides had used excessive force.

Responding to Tuesday’s Human Rights Watch report, Egypt’s official State Information Service said the findings were characterized by “negativity and bias” and “ignored terrorist acts carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters.”

In the year since the killings, Egyptian authorities have carried out a wide-ranging crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the region’s oldest and largest Islamist movement, and curtailed a range of basic rights, including freedom of speech and assembly. The judiciary system has also rendered a series of harsh mass verdicts against alleged Brotherhood backers.

Many government opponents, both Islamist and secular, have been imprisoned under a tough anti-protest law. Academics, activists, filmmakers, and journalists have faced prosecution for activities allegedly endangering national security, including three journalists from the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera English, who were sentenced earlier this summer to seven-year prison terms on terrorism-related charges.

AFP Photo

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