Al Jazeera staff say rightwing platform will ‘irreparably tarnish’ brand
More than a hundred staff at the Qatar-funded media organisation Al Jazeera have signed an open letter to management objecting to the launch of a rightwing digital platform that they say betrays its journalism and will “irreparably tarnish the network’s brand and work”.
The internal letter, seen by the Guardian and sent to top leaders of the media network, said the launch of Rightly on Thursday was “an affront to the ethical, journalistic and editorial vision and guidelines of Al Jazeera”.
The memo said the new conservative platform, which many staff learned about through media reporting, was “met with shock, confusion and criticism”, and came amid a period of budget cuts and layoffs that had left women of colour in particular doing more work without extra compensation.
