Ehab Al Shihabi, the ousted Al Jazeera America CEO who was thought to have been staying with the company as COO, is no longer with the network, an insider familiar with the situation told TheWrap.
Al Shihabi was removed from his position with the struggling network last week after a recent lawsuit was slapped against the company citing anti-semitism and gender bias. Soon after, reports revealed deep-rooted morale problems stemming from a culture of fear implemented by Al Shihabi.
As TheWrap previously reported, new CEO Al Anstey has more to work on than just fixing morale at the company, which one insider described as a “disaster zone.”
The channel still has distribution issues. Currently, it’s only seen in 60 million homes, while not being offered in HD on most of the better known cable operators.
The network’s deal with cable operators also prohibits it from posting too many clips online, a major drawback in the digital age.
On Thursday, an Al Jazeera spokesperson told TheWrap, “Al Jazeera America will be looking to bring our award-winning content to more people, by making the channel accessible to more viewers. Promoting AJAM and growing our audience are important priorities for us.”