Al Jazeera America signs off for good with newsroom video message

[w4rma]

Source: Entertainment Weekly

“From our first moments on the air … we’ve tried to bring you the stories that other news organizations don’t,” anchor Antonio Mora says in the video, in which he is flanked by dozens of Al Jazeera America colleagues. “We hope we have lived up to our promise to be the voice of the voiceless and to speak truth to power.”

“To those of you who have supported us on air and online, we thank you for allowing us to tell your stories,” adds anchor Richelle Carey.

Channeling Edward R. Murrow a bit, Mora concludes, “Good night, and goodbye.”

Al Jazeera America ✔ ‎@ajam
As @ajam signs off for good, here's a message from our newsroom

Al Jazeera America announced in January that it would cease its TV and digital output by the end of April. At that time, CEO Al Anstey said the decision 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.”

Read more: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/12/al-jazeera-america-signs-off-newsroom-video

[ornotna]

1. Yeah it sucks

They were on my favorites list.

[jillan]

2. What sucks is that they are leaving at the wrong time. At this very moment more people

are looking for alternative news sources - esp now that msnbc has become a propaganda machine with ZERO news.

It's too bad.
Their timing was off. They came in while msnbc was still informative so they weren't needed.
Now they are

[Blue_Tires]

8. Maybe if more folks actually *watched* it, AJAM might still be around...

and there are plenty of alternate news sources out there, so I have no idea what you're talking about there...

[Nitram]

15. There is no alternative news souice that provides the perrspective that al Jazeera did.

If you don't realize that then you really "don't have any idea."

[Blue_Tires]

20. France 24?

The BBC?
The CBC?
Deutsche Welle?
Shall I go on?


What "unique perspective" did AJAM have that you wouldn't see on those sites?

Let's stop trying to puff up AJAM's elegy in to something they never were, or pretend there isn't excellent journalism elsewhere... And for newfound admiration DU has for them now, there was scant discussion about them on this site until it was announced they were shutting down...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

23. I used to watch Al Jazeera on northern Virginia's MHz.

MHz Networks

It was on Channel 30.4, digital over-the-air.

The OTA transmission stopped, and they went to cable, didn't they? Once they did that, I was no longer a viewer

[Blue_Tires]

24. I remember MHz when I lived in the area!

I didn't have cable, so I watched it all the time (but this was before AJ became a thing)...

[ViseGrip]

3. Many are asking for it to be replaced with either RT or FSTV (FreeSpeechTV)

[King_David]

22. RT is homophobic

[Jopin Klobe]

4. Drip ...

... drip ... drip ...drip ... drip ...

[dynamo99]

5. Al Jazeera America signs off for good with newsroom video message

Or DemocracyNow!
(exclamation point theirs, not mine)
But unfortunately, Amy Goodman doesn't have the resources to cover everything, 24/7.

[beltanefauve]

6. Their investigative reporting

was excellent. There is nobody else like them. RT and FSTV don't compare.

[mdbl]

7. FSTV does good with the resources it has

They don't have the country of Qatar behind them. If you want to see FSTV take off, start to support them financially.

[beltanefauve]

25. Good point

My husband and I have been giving money to the primary candidate of our choice and give to other progressive candidates as well. We also give to KPFA, a Pacifica radio station in the Bay Area. We will be giving to FSTV as well.

[closeupready]

10. +1. I enjoyed so many of their documentaries.

Going to miss them.

[snooper2]

21. VICE is better than all of them just FYI

[denvine]

9. Really sad to see them go,

especially now, when we need real journalism.

[tabasco]

11. Always thought their branding was a big mistake

An Arabic name for their business wasn't so smart in the USA because of 9-11, al qaeda, al-shababb, etc.

[Nitram]

14. I don't think the name did them in. Anti-Muslim xenophobia did.

[tabasco]

18. That was my point.

They had to have considered that as a business decision.

They might still be around if they called it "global news" or something.

[mdbl]

26. Always thought that too

I just figured they didn't really care about the financial aspect of running the network since the oil money was behind it. Guess I was wrong on that issue. To me the station was just like CNN used to be at it's beginnings.

[Xithras]

28. The way they reused media made that impossible.

Al Jazeera America frequently and regularly ran content from their foreign offices, which all use the Al Jazeera name. They could have called it "Freedom News Network" in America, and viewers would have still seen the al-Jazeera name everywhere because of the global and foreign bureau content.

[Sunlei]

12. regular site is much better when notsubjected to "economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace"

http://www.aljazeera.com/

[Duval]

17. Thanks, Sunlei. nt

[Sunlei]

27. you're welcome. IMO, top quality Journalists & news reports.

[Nitram]

13. It's really too bad. We've lost one more important viewpoint from our newsfeed.

[Duval]

16. A huge loss.

Their investigative journalism is much needed and I'm sad to see it go.

[Hotler]

19. Waht sucked was I would have had to....

purchase a bigger cable package to view it.

[Duppers]

29. I was just reading about them.

Last year Al Gore had to sue them for $65 Million to force them to honor their purchase contract.

They've also been sued by employees for sexual and antisemitic discrimination.