ZIMMERMAN v. AL JAZEERA AMERICA, LLC et al

Filing 1

COMPLAINT against All Defendants with Jury Demand ( Filing fee $ 400 receipt number 0090-4367715) filed by Ryan C Zimmerman. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit, # 2 Exhibit, # 3 Exhibit, # 4 Exhibit, # 5 Exhibit, # 6 Exhibit, # 7 Exhibit, # 8 Exhibit, # 9 Exhibit, # 10 Exhibit, # 11 Exhibit, # 12 Exhibit, # 13 Exhibit, # 14 Exhibit, # 15 Exhibit, # 16 Exhibit, # 17 Exhibit, # 18 Exhibit, # 19 Exhibit, # 20 Exhibit, # 21 Exhibit, # 22 Civil Cover Sheet, # 23 Summons, # 24 Summons, # 25 Summons)(Lerner, Scott)

EXHIBIT B

Al Jazeera America, Its Newsroom in Turmoil, Is Now the News - The New York Times

Page 1 of 5

http://nyti.ms/1EP88HL

MEDIA

Al Jazeera America, Its Newsroom in
Turmoil, Is Now the News
By JOHN KOBLIN

MAY 5, 2015

Nearly two years ago, Ehab Al Shihabi, the chief executive of Al Jazeera America,
took the stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival and proposed something grand: An
American cable news station that would be thoughtful, probing and smart.
This station would dispense with shouting heads and conduct real
investigations, and with financing from the deep pockets of the Qatar government, it
would have a budget to match its ambitions. The benchmark for success was to
produce quality journalism and “to win the mind and the heart of the American
audience,” Mr. Al Shihabi said. And what else?
“The rating is very critical for us,” he said. “The margin of the profit also is
critical for us.”
Almost two years later, the ratings have not come, nor have the profits. The
station has been a nonfactor in news, drawing about 30,000 viewers a night. To
make matters worse, in the last week, a lawsuit and an exodus of top executives have
brought to the surface a series of grievances that employees say reflects a deep
dysfunction in management of the newsroom, undermining the network’s mission.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/business/media/al-jazeera-network-in-turmoil-is-now-the-n... 12/30/2015

Al Jazeera America, Its Newsroom in Turmoil, Is Now the News - The New York Times

Page 2 of 5

“I didn’t want to be there anymore because I didn’t like the culture of fear," said
Marcy McGinnis, the network’s former senior vice president for news gathering, who
resigned on Monday. “People are afraid to lose their jobs if they cross Ehab.”
Ms. McGinnis, who most recently served as Al Jazeera America’s senior vice
president for outreach, said that the newsroom was in total “disarray behind the
scenes,” a view echoed by almost a dozen current and former employees interviewed.
Ms. McGinnis, who formerly worked at CBS News, was the third top Al Jazeera
official in the last week to announce a departure. On Thursday, the chief of human
resources, Diana Lee, and the executive vice president for communications, Dawn
Bridges, resigned. On the same day, a former employee sued the company, claiming
he had been fired after he complained to human resources about a powerful
colleague. The complaint contains accusations of anti-Semitism, sexual
discrimination and episodes of retribution against employees.
In an interview from one of Al Jazeera’s offices in Manhattan, Mr. Al Shihabi
defended his network’s achievements. “Look at the quality of journalism,” he said.
“Look at the screen.”
Asked about employee complaints, he added: “We are committed to raise the
morale of our staff. If people are not happy, we will make them happy. We will invest
in their morale.”
Before joining Al Jazeera, Mr. Al Shihabi was a management consultant and
worked at firms like Arthur Andersen and Deloitte. It was his job to prepare the
American news channel for its debut.
It was a tricky assignment: Al Jazeera, started in the 1990s as an Arabic news
channel, was occasionally the target of American politicians who said it served up
propaganda from the Middle East.
Still, its English-language station, Al Jazeera English, has maintained a good
reputation in journalism circles, and in 2013, Al Jazeera spent $500 million to buy
Current TV to start an American channel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/business/media/al-jazeera-network-in-turmoil-is-now-the-n... 12/30/2015

Al Jazeera America, Its Newsroom in Turmoil, Is Now the News - The New York Times

Page 3 of 5

The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars since and hired
hundreds of people. The current head count for the network stands at 650 people,
Mr. Al Shihabi said. He laid out what he described as its successes: The network has
won some prestigious journalism awards and is doing the sort of TV journalism, he
says, that cannot be found elsewhere. He said it was too early to judge the network’s
overall influence.
“Fox, if you read the history, they got their inflection point after four years,” he
said. “Same thing with MSNBC. They started with one strategy and they shifted to
other strategy and got their inflection point. Al Jazeera America will get its inflection
point.”
Mr. Al Shihabi is sensitive to the network’s reputation with the news media. He
told employees last week that Al Jazeera America was a challenge to mainstream
organizations and that, as a result, they have trouble treating the network seriously.
He maintained that the morale of his newsroom was good, but current and
former employees painted a different picture. Most spoke on the condition of
anonymity, many because they said they feared retribution from the network.
Last week, at a newsroom-wide meeting described by several employees, staff
members complained bitterly about problems at the station: how women have lost
their jobs; the fear that offering criticism will lead to retaliation; the lack of
promotional efforts for the channel; and how the standards for internal reviews
changed without any announcement.
The station’s most recognizable face, Ali Velshi, a veteran of CNN, who hosts a
prime-time show, led a similar meeting in February. Mr. Velshi’s line of questioning
and his exchanges with Mr. Al Shihabi were particularly heated, according to five
people present at the meeting.
Days later, when Mr. Velshi was not present, Mr. Al Shihabi threatened to sue
Mr. Velshi and fire him, according to employees who said they heard him speaking
openly in the newsroom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/business/media/al-jazeera-network-in-turmoil-is-now-the-n... 12/30/2015

Al Jazeera America, Its Newsroom in Turmoil, Is Now the News - The New York Times

Page 4 of 5

“I’ll spend whatever I have to spend to bankrupt him in court,” Mr. Al Shihabi
said, according to one employee who was there. Another heard Mr. Al Shihabi say,
“He’s finished here.”
Mr. Velshi remains employed. In a statement, he said: “To hear that public
threats of litigation and of bankrupting me have been made, if true, is disheartening
and deeply troubling.” He declined to comment further.
In the interview on Tuesday, Mr. Al Shihabi said he had never made those
comments.
“We are creative thinkers, and we allow debates, we encourage debates and we
encourage different views,” he said.
Al Jazeera staff members also told stories of colleagues who stopped showing up
at work and executives would not discuss the reason. One former programming
executive stopped coming to the office around December. What happened to her was
not explained, according to several employees. Al Jazeera America’s Middle Eastern
correspondent, Nick Schifrin, has not been on the air for two months, similarly
without explanation. (Last week, he accepted an award from the Overseas Press Club
in person.) Mr. Schifrin would not comment.
“It’s the uncertainty in the day to day,” Ms. McGinnis said. “What shoe is going
to drop next? Nick Schifrin is a reporter, and nobody knows if he’s been fired, or let
go, or he’s just gone. People are like, ‘Oh, my God, what show’s going to get canceled
or revamped or what new executive is going to be my new boss today?”
She likewise complained that Mr. Al Shihabi interfered with news decisions, and
said that he “runs everything, every decision is his decision. When all of the
decisions land on one person who is not a journalist, it can lead to disgruntlement
because there’s a feeling he doesn’t understand journalism,” she said.
Mr. Al Shihabi says he doesn’t “run editorial” and defers to his newsroom
leadership team, including Kate O’Brian, the president of Al Jazeera America.
In last week’s lawsuit, Matthew Luke, formerly the network’s director of media
and archive management, said he had been fired after he complained to human

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/business/media/al-jazeera-network-in-turmoil-is-now-the-n... 12/30/2015

Al Jazeera America, Its Newsroom in Turmoil, Is Now the News - The New York Times

Page 5 of 5

resources about Osman Mahmud, the network’s senior vice president for broadcast
operations and technology. The suit accused Mr. Mahmud of being anti-Semitic and
sexist. “Whoever supports Israel should die a fiery death in hell,” he said in the
office, according to the suit.
Mr. Mahmud denied the accusations, according to The Washington Post. He has
not responded to messages from The New York Times seeking comment.
Mr. Al Shihabi said he had “no tolerance whatsoever of any discrimination
actions within Al Jazeera.” He said he would not comment further about Mr.
Mahmud because of the lawsuit.
Ms. McGinnis said the mood in the newsroom and her mounting frustration
with meddling in the journalism finally led her to quit. She said it was “unbelievably
depressing and disappointing” to leave, since she was proud of the work the station
was producing.
“All of us came in with high hopes to do a news channel that was counter to
what’s on the air now with the stupid talk shows, the fighting on the air,” she said.
“We just thought, ‘This is going to be great.’ ”
A version of this article appears in print on May 6, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the
headline: Turmoil and Exodus Rattle Al Jazeera America .

© 2015 The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/business/media/al-jazeera-network-in-turmoil-is-now-the-n... 12/30/2015