Al Jazeera America shaken by defections

Al Jazeera America has lost a third top executive in a week as the two-year-old cable television network defended itself against charges of sexist, anti-Semitic and anti-American behaviour from a former employee.

Marcy McGinnis, a former CBS News executive, had run Al Jazeera America's news operation, which she helped launch in 2013. But in March she was moved to senior vice-president of corporate outreach for the US arm of the Qatar-based media network.

She told staff her departure on Monday was sparked by differences with senior leadership.

In a note to employees seen by the Financial Times, Ms McGinnis wrote that Ehab Al Shihabi, chief executive, had told a company-wide meeting last week that "anyone who felt they could not support the decisions or direction set forth by him and the Al Jazeera Media Network would be welcome to leave."

She continued: "I find myself at that crossroads now and so have decided to resign."

Al Jazeera America executives confirmed the departure but declined to comment on why Ms McGinnis left. "We really don't go into personnel issues," said Kate O'Brian, president of Al Jazeera America.

The network has struggled to gain traction since its launch, which followed Al Jazeera's $500m purchase of Al Gore's Current TV. The channel reaches about 60m US homes but viewership is near the bottom of the cable networks rated by Nielsen and it has had trouble attracting significant advertising revenue.

Pressure appears to have been escalating in recent months. People familiar with the situation say executives at the parent company in Qatar have been exerting more control over the US operation, despite its insistence that the US arm is editorially independent.

"It's clear they are running it from Doha," said one person familiar with the situation.

Ms McGinnis's exit follows those last week of Dawn Bridges, head of communications, and Diana Lee, head of human resources, as well as Ms Lee's deputy Denise Males. Insiders say there have also been job cuts at the network's Washington DC office in recent months.

The recent high-level departures come as Al Jazeera America faces scrutiny from a $15m wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Matthew Luke, a former employee.

Mr Luke alleged that he was fired earlier this year after complaining to human resources about a manager, Osman Mahmud. Mr Luke alleged Mr Mahmud had made "discriminatory, anti-Semitic and anti-American remarks" and engaged in "overt misogynistic behaviour" including removing female employees from projects and excluding women from emails and meetings.

Mr Luke is seeking damages from the company and Mr Mahmud. Mr Mahmud last week told the Washington Post the allegations were "a pack of lies".

"Al Jazeera Media Network, including Al Jazeera America, is very, very much committed to diversity," Mr Al Shihabi told reporters on a conference call on Monday. "We have no tolerance whatsoever for any discriminatory conduct."

Earlier in the day the company issued a statement condemning "reports that the channel has allowed conduct which promotes intolerance or gender bias" as "absurd".

However, executives did not specifically mention Mr Luke's lawsuit on the call or in the statement, and said they could not comment on legal situations. "Let the court decide," Mr Al Shihabi said.

He urged the press to judge the network on other metrics than Nielsen's audience ratings, such as the "impact" of its stories as measured by the awards they have won.

"Ratings aren't everything," he said. "Quality journalism for us comes number one, but also at the same time we have models of efficiency and cost," he said.

He said he had a projection for when the channel would break even, but declined to share when that would be.

"I can do that in X number of years," he said. "I know what I'm doing."

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