[gottago]

Hell of an expose from the BBC here on multiple allegations of misconduct, inappropriate behaviour and bullying at Al Jazeera English including against Kamahl Santamaria who  left TVNZ after just 32 days (this happened ages ago but I haven't seen anything about it until now).

www.bbc.co.uk 

Al Jazeera staff allege harassment and bullying went unchecked - BBC News
The BBC finds multiple allegations of sexual harassment and bullying at the broa…
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[Krede]

Not only The BBC  with cutbacks
www.theguardian.com 

Al Jazeera English announces plans to move from London’s Shard to Qatar | Al Jaz…
Move of London’s live broadcast centre to Doha could involve dozens of jo…
  Source: www.theguardian.com

[Independent]

What a shame. I really liked the view during summer months and when they were doing work in Doha and had to add extra bulletins from London. The presenters standing in front of different windows giving different angles of London.

[Charles]

So the live news from London will end, and The Stream will move from DC to Doha. The article says the Shard newsroom will remain open and that they'll continue to produce other shows.

That's too bad. The London live output always felt special to me. I'm sure there are probably also plenty of staffers who are not pleased at the choice of having to move to Doha or lose their jobs, especially as it much be a pretty competitive job market right now with all the BBC redundancies.

I really hope the other London shows continue. The Listening Post is by far the best media analysis program on television. Studio B: Unscripted also looked quite striking pre-pandemic when they shot the show with a studio audience at night in front of the windows and with yellow lightning. Right now, they're still doing it pandemic-style in daylight and with the audience on Zoom in monitors behind the guests, which feels pretty lame.

www.youtube.com 

[Stooky Bill]

Apparently the London bulletins are ending this week. Staff affected are all leaving on Monday but I don't know whether that means the last bulletin will be on Sunday night or Monday night..... I suspect the former

[mouseboy33]

Looks like gauranteed money or not. These channels still have to break even or turn a profit. Now you can see the bind CNN is in. Makes you wonder whats gonna happen to SkyNews when their funding block is gone. Comcast is already looking to dump Sky Germany. So makes me think those European services arent that lucrative. SkyNews might look very different in the coming years..

[Stooky Bill]

Last bulletins from London will be on Monday (10th July)

[Stooky Bill]

Looks like gauranteed money or not. These channels still have to break even or turn a profit. Now you can see the bind CNN is in. Makes you wonder whats gonna happen to SkyNews when their funding block is gone. Comcast is already looking to dump Sky Germany. So makes me think those European services arent that lucrative. SkyNews might look very different in the coming years..

CNN and Sky have different funding to AJ. AJ are funded by a royal family rather than through commercials or carriage. It exists mostly for 'soft power' rather than making money. Think of the BBC World Service, that's the same.

AJ has never and will never make money, but I'm sure the loss of the other broadcast centres is partly money related, but is probably also a control thing. They have less control over the output from elsewhere and logistically it's fairly awkward to keep switching production between continents. Having it in one place provides consistency. 

Part of the advantage in having a production centre in London was it provided a back up for Doha, and in at least one occasion London took on the whole schedule. It also provided a place for the British staff in Doha to come back to when they'd had enough in the desert! 

As with the other two centres they'll still have a presence there, it's just bulletin production that is ending, although that's the major part of the operation in The Shard. 

A bit said considering when they moved into The Shard  they had plans for a UK orientated version of the channel. I believe they even had space for a TX suite, possibly even fitted out ready

[mouseboy33]

I'd doubt theyd go through the trouble of creating Al Jazeera America and then shut the whole thing down after 3 years if it was all about soft power. It was a financial disaster. What a fiasco that was. I think they arent just going to throw money away if its not needed. And they failed to get the AJE carriage on many cable systems in the US. They have a horrible reputation. Mostly from the Arabic service airing hostage and beheading videos back in the day. The brand never recovered.

[LargelyALurker]

I'd doubt theyd go through the trouble of creating Al Jazeera America and then shut the whole thing down after 3 years if it was all about soft power. It was a financial disaster. What a fiasco that was. I think they arent just going to throw money away if it’s not needed.  And they failed to get the AJE carriage on many cable systems in the US. They have a horrible reputation. Mostly from the Arabic service airing hostage and beheading videos back in the day. The brand never recovered.

Are you sure you’re thinking of Al Jazeera airing those videos? I had in my mind it was other Arabic news channels, maybe Al Arabiya? A quick look at their respective Wikipedia pages seems to confirm this.

Like BBC World Service, soft power only works when you can get an audience, so no surprise they gave up on a market where that just wasn’t happening.