Al Jazeera has apologized after a story on its website featured a list of the “Six Hot Media Startups to Watch in 2016,” and described Al Jazeera America as “the top one to watch.”
Of course, Al Jazeera America is shutting down in April. The roundup of hot startups was apparently a “satirical piece,” according to an editors note that has replaced the story on the website.
The now-removed story, which can be seen here, joked that AJAM “forged a different path from the rest of the industry, pulling their online video feed in favor of going cable-channel only — very unusual in today’s millennial-dominated world.”
It continued: “But who says that going retro can’t be innovative? Rather than leaping ‘over the top’ to reach people, they picked a ‘through the wall’ strategy, in what I feel is a very bold gambit to tempt Fox News’ 60-something-year-old viewers over to the AJAM camp. At the same time, the company has its eye on the long-term: positioning themselves to capture the millennial audience when it hits AARP age.”
Here is the text of the editor’s note: Al Jazeera America has removed the satirical piece originally posted on this link, which included commentary on our company that we believe was not appropriate given its imminent closure. Our goal in the closing stages of AJAM online and on TV is to honor the exceptional journalism and journalists that distinguished our brand, to maintain the respect that we have always shown to those we have covered since our launch, and to uphold our promise to deliver the highest quality journalism to our readers until the very last. We believe the satirical piece originally at this link failed to live up to these goals. We offer our apologies to our readers and to our staff.