US anchor quits Al-Jazeera citing increased editorial control

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

NEW YORK (AFP) — The most high-profile US face on Al-Jazeera's English language service has quit the network, citing increasing editorial control by the Qatar-based management, according to reports Friday.

"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," Dave Marash, a former ABC network correspondent, told The New York Times.

He said that the 24-hour Doha-based network had started exercising increasing editorial control not only over its Washington bureau, but also over the European and Asian broadcasting hubs in London and Kuala Lumpur.

"They started covering the whole world very well, but from the point of view and the interests of Doha and the surrounding...