By Don Irvine.
Al Jazeera America, which will be celebrating its first anniversary next week, is considering another round of layoffs, as the network’s ratings continue to sag.
According to TV Newser, Al Jazeera America CEO Ehab Al Shihabi told the staff during a meeting last week that there may be further layoffs.
A network spokesman told TV Newser that “Like any television network we make decisions based on our programming schedule,” and that they were always looking at staffing levels.
This is the second round of cuts this year. In April, the network laid off dozens of people in their sports and business units.
Al Jazeera America reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars hiring staff to build 12 U.S. bureaus in anticipation of competing with Fox, MSNBC and CNN—after buying Al Gore’s Current TV for $500 million—and wound up with a network whose ratings are so bad they’re barely measurable.
While the Qatari government has plenty of money to spend on Al Jazeera, it’s evident by the layoffs that they are finally starting to realize the folly of their investment.
