Al Jazeera America is shutting down. This wouldn’t be sports news, except the company has given sports athletes a black eye as of late.
In a documentary, the startup news network ran, it linked Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard and Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to performance-enhancing drug use.
Zimmerman and Howard have filed a lawsuit against the company. Manning has yet to do so, but said he’s considering it –maybe after he’s doing playing in the NFL playoffs.
The company is shutting down on April 30th. The Qatar-based news outlet is shutting down less than three-years after its launch.
The company officially launched on the States in August 2013 after buying out Current TV. The Al Gore co-founded Current TV was sold to Al Jazeera America for $500 million earlier in 2013.
The cable news network will be phased out by April 30, according to a memo that was e-mailed to staffers Wednesday.
Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar, launched the U.S.-based network in August, 2013 after buying Current TV, the cable news channel co-founded by Al Gore, for about $500 million earlier in the year.
“The wind down of Al Jazeera America is not expected to have any impact on other businesses or operations of the network,” wrote Mostefa Souag, acting director general of Al Jazeera Media Network, in the note.
The Al Jazeera America network spent a lot of money on investigative and fact-checking journalists to set themselves apart from everyone else. Their investigative reporter Deborah Davies caught a lot of heat when the documentary ran about the PED use in sports.
