The global oil rally has taken a toll on many areas of the global economy. But an unexpected but not surprising one is that of Aljazeera TV Network.
The Qatar-funded news network announced that it will cut about 500 jobs. This is as a result of the fact that Qatar, its benefactor and sole-financier is cutting down on spending to meet current economic realities.
Acting Director General of the network, Mostefa Souag, explained that the job cuts was to evolve Aljazeera’s business operation in order to maintain a leading position. “We shall continue our recognised commitment to high quality, independent and hard-hitting journalism around the world. While our decision is consistent with those being made across the media industry worldwide, it was difficult to make nonetheless.”
Aljazeera operates in Doha as its HQ, America, Kuala Lumpur and it hopes to shed most weights at its Doha HQ. The company has over 5,000 staff and it hopes to use the restructuring to reduce manpower to about 4,000, mostly non-editorial positions.
It started in 1996 by the Sheik of Qatar, Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, as a news network reporting news from the Arabian and Middle East perspectives.
