NYT: David Marash, American anchor, quits Al Jazeera, citing anti-American tone:

David Marash, the most prominent American anchor on Al Jazeera English, has quit the 24-hour international news channel, citing an increased level of editorial control exercised by the channel’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

“To put it bluntly, the channel that’s on now — while excellent, and I plan to be a lifetime viewer — is not the channel that I signed up to do,” Mr. Marash, formerly a correspondent for ABC’s “Nightline,” said in an interview.

Not that most Americans would notice: although Al Jazeera English, a 16-month-old companion to the Arabic-language Al Jazeera, reaches 100 million households around the world, it has so far been unable to secure widespread cable distribution in the United States. ...

Mr. Marash called his time at Al Jazeera English “very, very satisfying” and praised the channel’s coverage of Latin America, Africa and other regions, but said that the editorial direction had shifted during his time there.

When it started in November 2006, Al Jazeera English promoted an international point of view that set it apart from other television news outlets. As the channel matured, Mr. Marash said, the headquarters in Doha provided more and more direction about the assignment of stories, which meant that the other three regional news bureaus — in Washington, London and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — saw their autonomy shrink. [...]

He said he also sensed an anti-American sensibility creeping into the coverage. Will Stebbins, the channel’s Washington bureau chief, told The Associated Press Thursday that it seeks to evaluate United States policy rigorously but “give everyone a fair shout.” ...

Posted by Laura at March 28, 2008 07:49 AM