LONDON: Al Jazeera English has revealed plans to move its London live broadcast activity to the Qatari capital Doha.
The decision to close the newscaster’s office in The Shard skyscraper could see up to 70 UK correspondents and camera crew lose their jobs, The Guardian reported.
In an email to staff, Giles Trendle, managing director of the English service, said Al Jazeera was “looking to undertake a restructure involving the move of AJE live programming to Doha.
“The move would include the news bulletins between 19:00 GMT and 23:00 GMT produced from London, and ‘The Stream’ program produced from Washington, D.C.”
He pointed out that staff responsible for the live broadcast would be offered “the opportunity to relocate to Doha.”
A spokesperson for the Bectu trade union, which represents around 30 of the network’s technical staff in London, described the plan as “extremely disappointing,” adding that it had no further information on the situation.
“The union is seeking more detail on the proposals, including which positions have been earmarked for redundancy and how that figure was reached, and will be meeting with the company this coming Monday,” the spokesperson said.
In 2022, staff of Al Jazeera English’s London office won a 9 percent pay raise following threats of strike action ahead of the Qatar World Cup.
The National Union of Journalists balloted 40 UK-based staff members in September after the latter rejected Al Jazeera’s offer of “4.5 percent plus an unconsolidated £500 for those earning less than £50,000,” as per an NUJ press statement.
Hundreds of media jobs in the UK have been cut or put at risk within the last year. In September, the BBC World Service announced significant service cuts and the loss of some 382 jobs.
The Independent put about 20 percent of its workforce at risk of redundancy in November 2022, citing a worsening advertising market and economic situation.
And earlier this year, DC Thomson announced plans to shut almost 40 magazines as part of a “digital reset,” cutting 300 of its 1,600 staff members.
