‘A Betrayal of the Values That We Work Toward’: Al Jazeera Insiders Troubled By Launch of Conservative Platform ‘Rightly’

Stock Photo via AP/Hamid Jalaudin

Employees at Al Jazeera’s English language platforms are deeply concerned that the launch of Rightly, a new digital platform aimed at conservative American audiences, may lead to a shift in editorial direction for Al Jazeera’s English-language properties, including AJ+ and Al Jazeera English.

Multiple Al Jazeera insiders told Mediaite that the addition of Rightly to the Al Jazeera Media Network may lead audiences to believe that AJ+ and Al Jazeera English are aimed at liberal audiences, when those platforms have not previously aligned with a political perspective.

“This isn’t about right or left. People at Al Jazeera fall across the political spectrum,” one Al Jazeera staffer told Mediaite. “This is about the editorial direction of our work. Are we part of the problem that Rightly is claiming to counteract?”

The staffer said that concerns were amplified after conservative commentator Stephen Kent, the host of Rightly’s first show, was interviewed on AJ English about former President Donald Trump‘s speech at CPAC on Sunday.

“By doing this, AJ English, run by Giles Trendle, who claimed not to know [about Rightly] and was very upset by it, legitimized this venture,” an Al Jazeera staffer told Mediaite. “We are enraged, and feel betrayed.”

Rightly kicked off with a “soft launch” on Feb. 25 with an hour-long show, Right Now with Stephen Kent. In a statement, Al Jazeera hailed Kent as “one of the rising stars in Millennial political circles.”

“This show is going to be about searching for a home if you’re someone who doesn’t feel represented in the current political climate,” Kent said in the statement. “The majority of Americans want a sane political conversation rooted in humility and openness. We’re going to do just that by hosting weekly conversations on the state of the right and have some fun doing it.”

The idea that Al Jazeera’s platforms that reach American audiences, including AJ+ and Al Jazeera English, don’t represent the span of political perspectives is erroneous, Al Jazeera insiders say.

“Al Jazeera’s editorial values are very clear,” another staffer said. “We provide a voice to the voiceless and speak truth to power. And that ‘Our credibility stems from our commitment to … objectivity,” the staffer added, pointing to Al Jazeera’s values statement. “Taking a partisan position is in direct conflict with those values.”

“When we talk about ‘marginalized voices’ in the U.S., we don’t mean Republicans naval gazing their party’s election loss,” the staffer said. “We mean people systemically excluded and victimized by both Republican and Democrat policies.”

“The concern of staffers is that Rightly is the first time the network has committed to a partisan position, and that it is an opinion-based platform,” the staffer added. “Al Jazeera does not – for example – ever declare its support for a presidential candidate.”

“[Rightly] is the only channel on the network that is explicitly political and aligned with an ideology,” said another Al Jazeera staffer. “AJ+ isn’t built on ideology. The channel was built on the premise of holding powerful structures, conservative or liberal, accountable to people.”

Rightly is helmed and hosted by people with extensive experience in conservative media. Host Kent is a conservative commentator and author whose appearances have included Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, The Federalist, and Glenn Beck, according to his website. According to their respective LinkedIn profiles, editor-in-chief Scott Norvell was with Fox News for around 12 years and spent three years at News Corp., and executive editor Katie Sargent spent nearly eight years at Fox News.

Within days after the launch was announced, more than 100 Al Jazeera staffers signed an internal letter to management — first reported by The Guardian — which Mediaite has reviewed, expressing concern over the launch of the conservative platform.

“The introduction of an opinion-based platform that seeks to promote a political ideology is an affront to the ethical, journalistic and editorial vision and guidelines of Al Jazeera,” the letter said. “Media in the U.S. is already polarized and the introduction of ‘Rightly’ is not a solution but rather a deepening of the problem.”

The letter also expressed concern over how the existence of the conservative platform under the Al Jazeera umbrella will affect their future employability.

“Those of us who work in the United States already face tremendous challenges, and our jobs will only be made more difficult now that we will be associated with promoting a political ideology,” the letter said.

Many staffers only learned about the launch from outside media reports.

“We were all shocked to learn about Rightly, especially that we only heard about it two days before launch, and that the Guardian knew about it before we did,” one insider told Mediaite. “We’re also concerned that this launch happened with no transparency.”

“In the view of the 100+ staffers who signed the joint letter to the [director general], Rightly is a betrayal of the values that we work toward every day,” the insider said.

Signatories to the letter requested a meeting to discuss their concerns. Sources at Al Jazeera told Mediaite that no official response to the letter has been issued.

In a recent interview with The Hill, Michael Weaver, senior VP of business development and growth in Al Jazeera’s digital division, acknowledged the staffers’ concerns, but maintained that Rightly will fill a gap in Al Jazeera’s coverage. “[W]e identified this place where we think middle-of-the-road conservatives aren’t being heard. And they deserve to be a part of the conversation,” Weaver told The Hill. Al Jazeera PR has not responded to Mediaite’s request for comment on this report.

Al Jazeera insiders say that the presence of Rightly essentially sets up a binary choice for audiences, where Rightly represents one part of Al Jazeera’s audience, with AJ+ and AJ English representing the other side.

“It says to all of the other AJ products, like AJ English, AJ+ English: ‘No need to challenge your audiences too much or to challenge yourselves to pull in audiences that don’t already agree with the reputation you’ve built, because now we have a separate platform for that,’” Sara Murphy-Madia, who was a producer and journalist at AJ+ when it launched in 2014, told Mediaite. “They’re creating a separate platform for people who think like [conservatives].”

“Audiences of AJ+ English lose,” Murphy-Madia continued. “With the launch of Rightly, what’s the incentive for AJ+ English to challenge the audience it’s already built to think beyond what they already think, and how do they reach out to others?”

“Even if Rightly fails, it damages the reputation of the other outlets,” Murphy-Madia said.

An Al Jazeera insider confirmed that many staffers are concerned about AJ+ and Al Jazeera English, which have never had an explicit political viewpoint, will be reframed as representing the “left” as a counterpoint to Rightly.

AJ Listening Post, Al Jazeera’s weekly media show, acknowledged that Rightly is breaking new ground for Al Jazeera, and that it’s too soon to determine its impact on the Al Jazeera brand. “None of [Al Jazeera’s platforms] have ever made an overt pitch to audiences of a specific political constituency. So Rightly is definitely a first,” Al Jazeera executive producer Meenakshi Ravi said on the show.

“Al Jazeera is a great place to work editorially,” a staffer told Mediaite. “We all have disagreements in coverage from across the channels, but we’re here because we’re able to tell stories we know CNN, MSNBC, BBC wouldn’t let us tell. When a channel like Rightly is brought in, which is entirely opinion, the concern isn’t that it’s conservative or even that it’ll be popular. The concern is what does this mean for our editorial future?”