Al Jazeera to initiate rightwing media platform targeting US conservatives
Rightly will be led by a former Fox News journalist and is aimed at Republicans who ‘feel left out of conservative media
Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network that has previously sought to become a liberal media force within the US, is launching a platform to focus on conservatives, it had been revealed on Tuesday.
The new effort, called Rightly, will target Republicans who “feel overlooked of mainstream media”, Politico reported, and can be led by a former Fox News journalist.
Al Jazeera became a big presence within the US in 2013, when it launched the left-leaning Al Jazeera America news channel and website. The network, which is predicated in Doha and funded by the state of Qatar, closed down the US-facing channel in 2016, but has remained a big presence online with its AJPlus video network. Its international channel – Al Jazeera English – is popular within the US.
The launch of a conservative effort comes at a time of accelerating extremism in existing rightwing US news sources.
Fox News, the go-to news channel for the American right, has lurched even further right because it faces threats from new, ultra-conservative TV channels NewsMax and One America News.
Politico reported that Scott Norvell, a former Fox News staffer, are going to be editor-in-chief of Rightly, which can launch its first conservative-focused show on Thursday.
Norvell left News Corp, which owns Fox News, in 2012, consistent with his LinkedIn page, ending 16 years at the corporate in various roles.
A former staffer at Heat Street, a news website launched by News Corp in April 2016 and pack up in August 2017, said Norvell was involved therein site’s politics swinging to the proper .
“Scott Norvell played a neighborhood in transitioning Heat Street from libertarian youth-oriented site as originally envisaged to pro-Trump alt-right Breitbart clone,” the previous staffer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Norvell didn’t answer an invitation for comment.
Privately, some Al Jazeera staff expressed dismay at the launch of Rightly, wondering how it squared with the network’s previously stated commitments to giving voice to marginalised communities.
The Al Jazeera show are going to be called immediately with Stephen Kent, consistent with Politico, and can be hosted by Stephen Kent, a commentator who currently presents Beltway Banthas, a podcast about “Star Wars, Politics & More”.
Kent also features a book cater to Center Street, a conservative book company which has published works by far-right authors including Donald Trump Jr and Corey Lewandowski.
Al Jazeera and Kent didn’t immediately answer requests for comment. Kent retweeted news of the platform on Tuesday morning.
