The Newsroom

Aljazeera America is shutting down April 30

New York Based channel is closing (January 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
NY
NYTV
WW Update posted:
Rkolsen posted:
noggin posted:

That doesn't answer my question re: continuing carriage? i.e. Are Al Jazeera pulling out entirely from English language US broadcast distribution, or are they going to just rebroadcast AJE so continuing with a broadcast outlet in English, just closing the US-based AJAM operation that used to opt-out of it?

From what I've read so far it seems like they're completely shutting down. To be honest AJE probably wouldn't do much better either.


Perhaps, but the cost of simply distributing AJE would be minimal by comparison.

Most likely, they'll just stream AJE on YouTube like they used to do and concede the US television scene.
MO
Mouseboy33
or put it on Roku (etc)..like everything else...ala SkyNews.
LL
London Lite Founding member
A Washington Post op-ed blames AJA's use of old media instead of social media.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/01/14/this-is-what-doomed-al-jazeera-america/
NY
NYTV
This is how Al Jazeera America reported their own closing: By repeating themselves 3 times in the same day.
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/how-al-jazeera-america-reported-its-own-demise/282085
TH
Thinker
If they paid $500 million for the channel three years ago, it doesn't make sense for them to simply surrender the distribution contracts now. Cable distribution is decreasing in value, but it is still not worthless. They will probably either use it for Al Jazeera English or sell it to someone else (or do the former in anticipation of the latter).
IN
Independent
WW Update posted:
Some interesting background about the closure:



I noticed The Guardian article mentioned AJE employs 530 people but AJAM's closure would lead to a loss of 700 jobs according to CNN. It seems odd that AJAM has more staff than AJE despite having to simulcast AJE very often.

Never heard of AJ+ before but having seen some of its content, it's aimed at millenials. The closure and digital plan will alienate some older viewers if they don't unblock AJE. I don't mean to stereotype but I don't think older people tend to like large text, cartoon animations, and/or music in news videos as much as millenials.
Last edited by Independent on 16 January 2016 7:38pm
RK
Rkolsen
Thinker posted:
If they paid $500 million for the channel three years ago, it doesn't make sense for them to simply surrender the distribution contracts now. Cable distribution is decreasing in value, but it is still not worthless. They will probably either use it for Al Jazeera English or sell it to someone else (or do the former in anticipation of the latter).

Their distribution contracts are almost up.
Independent posted:
WW Update posted:
Some interesting background about the closure:



I noticed The Guardian article mentioned AJE employs 530 people but AJAM's closure would lead to a loss of 700 jobs according to CNN. It seems odd that AJAM has more staff than AJE despite having to simulcast AJE very often.

Never heard of AJ+ before but having seen some of its content, it's aimed at millenials. The closure and digital plan will alienate some older viewers if they don't unblock AJE. I don't mean to stereotype but I don't think older people tend to like large text, cartoon animations, and/or music in news videos as much as millenials.

I believe the difference in employees may have to do with the fact that AJAM was built from the ground up and separated from the current AJA/AJE infrastructure. AJE most likely has the ability to share technicians and other behind the scenes employees in Doha and London.
NY
NYTV
Rkolsen posted:
Thinker posted:
If they paid $500 million for the channel three years ago, it doesn't make sense for them to simply surrender the distribution contracts now. Cable distribution is decreasing in value, but it is still not worthless. They will probably either use it for Al Jazeera English or sell it to someone else (or do the former in anticipation of the latter).

Their distribution contracts are almost up.
Independent posted:
WW Update posted:
Some interesting background about the closure:



I noticed The Guardian article mentioned AJE employs 530 people but AJAM's closure would lead to a loss of 700 jobs according to CNN. It seems odd that AJAM has more staff than AJE despite having to simulcast AJE very often.

Never heard of AJ+ before but having seen some of its content, it's aimed at millenials. The closure and digital plan will alienate some older viewers if they don't unblock AJE. I don't mean to stereotype but I don't think older people tend to like large text, cartoon animations, and/or music in news videos as much as millenials.

I believe the difference in employees may have to do with the fact that AJAM was built from the ground up and separated from the current AJA/AJE infrastructure. AJE most likely has the ability to share technicians and other behind the scenes employees in Doha and London.

Most likely, the AJAM DC staff may be reassigned to AJE, but the job cuts may be strictly for the New York staff. Speaking of his time with AJAM, Anchor Ali Velshi, who joined form CNN Domestic, said that leaving for AJAM was "worth the risk"
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ali-velshi-leaving-cnn-for-ajam-was-worth-the-risk/282302
RK
Rkolsen
NYTV posted:
Rkolsen posted:
Thinker posted:
If they paid $500 million for the channel three years ago, it doesn't make sense for them to simply surrender the distribution contracts now. Cable distribution is decreasing in value, but it is still not worthless. They will probably either use it for Al Jazeera English or sell it to someone else (or do the former in anticipation of the latter).

Their distribution contracts are almost up.
Independent posted:
I noticed The Guardian article mentioned AJE employs 530 people but AJAM's closure would lead to a loss of 700 jobs according to CNN. It seems odd that AJAM has more staff than AJE despite having to simulcast AJE very often.

Never heard of AJ+ before but having seen some of its content, it's aimed at millenials. The closure and digital plan will alienate some older viewers if they don't unblock AJE. I don't mean to stereotype but I don't think older people tend to like large text, cartoon animations, and/or music in news videos as much as millenials.

I believe the difference in employees may have to do with the fact that AJAM was built from the ground up and separated from the current AJA/AJE infrastructure. AJE most likely has the ability to share technicians and other behind the scenes employees in Doha and London.

Most likely, the AJAM DC staff may be reassigned to AJE, but the job cuts may be strictly for the New York staff. Speaking of his time with AJAM, Anchor Ali Velshi, who joined form CNN Domestic, said that leaving for AJAM was "worth the risk"
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ali-velshi-leaving-cnn-for-ajam-was-worth-the-risk/282302


Does Al Jazeera English have their own correspondents in DC or do they solely rely on AJAM talent? As a side note I wonder how much money they will be saving given they don't have to rent out one of the studios at the Newseum. The Newseum studios are a prime piece of real estate being blocks from capital hill.
IN
Independent
Rkolsen posted:
Does Al Jazeera English have their own correspondents in DC or do they solely rely on AJAM talent?

I don't know but I can tell you the DC correspondents that appear often on AJE are Patty Culhane, Kimberly Halkett, Alan Fisher, Rosland Jordan, Rob Reynolds, and Shihab Rattansi. They've been with AJE before AJAM and some used to anchor the DC bulletins before they were cancelled.
RK
Rkolsen
Independent posted:
Rkolsen posted:
Does Al Jazeera English have their own correspondents in DC or do they solely rely on AJAM talent?

I don't know but I can tell you the DC correspondents that appear often on AJE are Patty Culhane, Kimberly Halkett, Alan Fisher, Rosland Jordan, Rob Reynolds, and Shihab Rattansi. They've been with AJE before AJAM and some used to anchor the DC bulletins before they were cancelled.

I'm just guessing they may want to keep the existing talent in place and let go the AJAM staffers.
CH
Charles
Independent posted:
Rkolsen posted:
Does Al Jazeera English have their own correspondents in DC or do they solely rely on AJAM talent?

I don't know but I can tell you the DC correspondents that appear often on AJE are Patty Culhane, Kimberly Halkett, Alan Fisher, Rosland Jordan, Rob Reynolds, and Shihab Rattansi. They've been with AJE before AJAM and some used to anchor the DC bulletins before they were cancelled.


AJE used to have a really great DC operation. Back when AJE was still running on the "follow the sun" broadcasting strategy with KL, Doha, London, and DC each having a few hours of airtime per day, I always remember AJE DC's primetime news hours with Shihab Rattansi and Ghida Fakhry to be some of the best. Their US coverage was far more interesting and unique than anything else that any other network was doing, and it was certainly more compelling and critical of the US than AJAM is. Those hours of news were even carried on PBS subchannels around the country for a period of time.

Sadly, a lot of the great people you mentioned (plus others) refused to take part in the AJAM experiment or left, and their rolling news broadcasts were taken away shortly before AJAM launched.

The other casualty to the AJAM experiment was also (indirectly) Riz Khan, whose show was replaced with The Stream on AJE, and then AJAM produced a separate version of its own for a while (or maybe they still do?). Inside Story also split off into two separate versions for both networks, though the AJAM version is very different from what the AJE one use to be/is.

It would be great to see AJE in North America return to what it used to be, or at least have something similar to what AJ London has with a few hours of primetime news with a regional angle.

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