Jazeera heads back to Doha as Buzzfeed cans news

According to the Guardian newspaper, the London broadcast centre of Al Jazeera English is to close. Programming will move to Doha, the Qatari capital. The London operation, located in the Shard skyscraper in the city (pictured), currently produces news bulletins between 1900 and 2300 GMT. The Guardian quotes an email sent to staff by Al Jazeera English managing director Giles Trendle in which he says staff producing live output will be offered the opportunity to relocate to Doha.

 

Al Jazeera English pioneered the concept of rolling newsrooms producing blocks of output. The original idea was that the day would be split into four, with output coming from broadcast centres in Kuala Lumpur, London, Washington DC and Doha. The KL and Washington output has been scaled back over the past few years with just London producing a block of content.

 

The Guardian believes that the London newsroom will remain in operation feeding into the main newsroom in Doha. It is unclear whether this withdrawal from London is a cost-cutting exercise or part of a reassessment of the best way for Al Jazeera English to operate in an increasingly competitive media marketplace.