Ali Velshi Says Good Bye to CNN on to Al-Jazeera America

[SamuelB]

Al Jazeera America will be headquartered in New York City and will focus on U.S. domestic issues, according to spokesman Tony Fox.

Upon launching, it plans to have 12 bureaus scattered around the country, the same number as CNN.

It also will have five foreign bureaus and use news reports from Al Jazeera’s 65 existing bureaus around the world. By way of comparison, the BBC has 41 international bureaus, CNN has 33, MSNBC has 14 and Fox has six.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera America says it is hiring 800 journalists and other employees, almost all of them in the U.S., to staff the new operation. The investigative unit alone will employ 16 journalists, and the Washington bureau will include one White House and one congressional correspondent, among others. Al Jazeera America reportedly will be broadcasting from a studio most recently used by ABC’s “This Week” in the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

A typical day on Al Jazeera America will include 11 hours of traditional news, starting with a three-hour weekday morning show, with anchors in the studio and reporters in the field; a one-hour news magazine; talk shows, and programs devoted to sports and entertainment, its spokesman said. The channel also will air a one-hour news magazine and has plans to produce and acquire documentaries.

What it won’t air, Fox said, are “shout-fests.”

The new channel has hired some respected names in journalism. Already on board are Ali Velshi, former chief business correspondent for CNN, who will create a primetime business program; Ed Pound, an investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal who will head the investigative unit; John Meehan, formerly the global executive producer for Thomson Reuters, who will be a senior executive producer; Andrea Stone, formerly a reporter for The Huffington Post and USA Today, and Tony Karon, a former senior editor for Time magazine’s website, who will be senior online executive producers for the digital team.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Ali was one of the better people on CNN.

Sorry to see him go.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Link to above article

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/28/al-jazeera-americas-biggest-challenge-getting-people-to-show-up/

[femmocrat]

3. It will be another alternative.

I really liked Current's evening talk shows, but never watched their other shows, like "Marijuana Wars" and their celebrity death documentaries.

I WILL miss Bill Press and Stephanie Miller, though. Their morning line-up was the best.

[djean111]

4. I find myself switching to Current's evening talk shows, too.

I will miss John Fugelsang and Cenk and Joy Behar and Jennifer Granholm.

[bahrbearian]

6. Has Al Jazeera America said if they we're keeping TYT's or not ?

[Ian David]

5. No word yet on Stephanie Miller, John Fugelsang, Joyce Behar, etc. Sigh.

On the other hand, there won't be hours of programs about drug cartels.