Al Jazeera America to Close in April

Al Jazeera said that “the economic landscape of the media environment has driven its strategic decision to wind down its operations and conclude its service”.

Al Jazeera America paid $500 million for Current TV and when it opened promised to cover USA news soberly and seriously by presenting the facts and exploring news stories of the day with in-depth coverage. The announcement was made in an email from AJAM CEO Al Anstey to staff, of which hundreds are expected to lose their jobs. We have increasingly set ourselves apart from all the rest.

Within a few months of entering into the news industry, Al Jazeera America’s profiles quickly rose among consumers and peers in the industry – in the light of its unrivaled journalism.

The network also said it will be ramping up its digital offerings in the U.S.as it shuts down its news channel.

Cable news network Al Jazeera America has announced it is shutting down, less than three years after it was launched.

The company leased a Midtown Manhattan studio, brought in top talent from CNN and ABC and launched in August 2013, with the intention of filling the void of global news in the USA, where networks are often dominated by pundit- and partisan-talking points.

While its channel struggled to reach viewers, Al Jazeera’s journalism won a number of awards including commendations from Peabody, Emmy, Gracie, Eppy and DuPont. The Al-Jazeera America news network ousted its chief executive on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, with the little-watched network suffering key defections and a lawsuit charging an employee with anti-Semitism.

Al Jazeera America has at least one interested buyer.

Even when the TV channel is going to close by April 30, Al Jazeera America announced on Wednesday that it is planning to expand its digital services in order to respond to a big segment of audiences who mostly use mobile platforms.

A bigger problem, however, may be the Al Jazeera brand, which could be tainted because of its association among many Americans with Islamist terrorism.