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AP

Al Jazeera America Hit With Bias Suit

Jun 11, 2015  •  Post A Comment

“The former head of Al Jazeera America’s documentary unit has sued the news network, claiming it is biased against non-Arabs and women in stories that it produces and in how it treats employees,” the AP reports.

Shannon High-Bassalik has filed the suit after being fired in February, halfway through a three-year contract, the story reports.

High-Bassalik “said the network’s recently ousted chief executive Ehab Al Shihabi left meetings when women were speaking and admitted that he tried to favor an Arab point of view on the air to please AJAM’s Qatar-based ownership,” the story reports, adding: “Al Jazeera America called High-Bassalik’s accusations unfounded and said she made none of them during an investigation of her employment record conducted by an outside law firm.”

Some of the network’s issues appear to stem from its failure to rise to the level of a viable competitor to Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC.

The lawsuit reportedly states: “As ratings failed to live up to the expectations of management, Al Jazeera openly decided to abandon all pretense of neutrality in favor of putting the Arabic viewpoint front and center, openly demanding that programs be aired that criticized countries such as America, Israel and Egypt.”

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