"The cable news channel Al Jazeera America, which debuted in 2013 to great fanfare when it promised to cover American news soberly and seriously, is shutting down by the end of April. The move was announced at a companywide meeting on Wednesday.
In a memo to the staff, Al Jazeera America’s chief executive, Al Anstey, said the “decision by Al Jazeera America’s board is driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace.”"
Source:
NYT: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down by April
I tuned-in a few times, and found I enjoyed it. The news seemed to be presented in that serious, calm, factual, 'no drama' style I often prefer, similar to BBC/BBC America or NPR. It very much seemed to be the antithesis of MSNBC/FOX, and I find that refreshing (though I do admit to enjoy a bit of FOX/MSNBC boisterous partisanship on occasion, too!).
My observations concerning AJA seem to be in concert with their self-proclaimed mission statement:
"Al Jazeera America went on the air in August 2013 after it bought Al Gore’s Current TV for $500 million. It promised to be thoughtful and smart, free of the shouting arguments that have defined cable news in the United States over the last decade. "
But here's the problem I had: As much as I felt comfortable with the content I was receiving, I had sublime doubts and suspicions due to the Arab nature of the channel. No matter what I viewed & enjoyed, I had a hesitation of possible mistrust. Consequently, I only tuned in on occasion, and never used it as a primary source, while taking their information with a grain of salt. In essence, I treated it like the RT Channel (Russian Television).
Their viewership numbers were disastrous:
"But meaningful viewership never came, with prime-time ratings sometimes struggling to exceed 30,000 viewers."
Those numbers may be low because America seems to not have much interest in serious non-partisan cable news as of late. But I can't help but wonder if many like me, felt they had a hard time trusting AJA as a primary source, and only a few of us chose to use it as an alternative non-western source. I saw little evidence AJA provided a slanted view. Perhaps that's the problem. If they had promoted the Arab causes, they may have had more of us tuning-in to see their POV, in much the same way I watch FOX to catch a glimpse of how the Right & the GOP are interpreting an event, even though I'm often-enough sided on the opposite end of the political spectrum.
Opinions?