Arab news site under fire over employment practices

The UK's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has written to the Qatari ambassador in London demanding that pressure be put on Al-Jazeera.net to reform its employment practices.

Yvonne Ridley and Shaista Aziz, who both helped to establish a circle of NUJ members at the news site, have both been sacked from the site in the past two months. They had raised concerns about controversial new contracts and working conditions for the news team in Doha.

"We have written to make the ambassador aware of the bad employment practices at Al-Jazeera.net," said Jenny Lennox, the NUJ’s assistant organiser for web journalists.

"They were asking staff to sign contracts that breach Qatari employment law."

The union is also arranging a meeting with Al-Jazeera.net management through the International Federation of Journalists to resolve issues for the remaining staff at the site.

"There is still some money owed to both Yvonne and Shaista and also benefits that were promised to other journalists that are still working there," said Ms Lennox.

The NUJ has branches around the world, but the issues at Al-Jazeera.net have presented new problems for the team. Under Qatari law, no-one is allowed to organise a union, although they are permitted to join a professional body, so the union is not formally recognised and has no rights to negotiate.

"Al-Jazeera.net is going out of its way to actively recruit British journalists who are promised a better way of life," said Ms Lennox.

"It is a high-profile company on the internet and the perception is that it will treat its journalists with the same standards as other well-known web publishers such as the BBC.

"It is damaging its reputation."

Ms Aziz spent four years working for the BBC and two years in print journalism before moving to Qatar to work for the Al-Jazeera site.

"That job was a dream come true for me," she said.

"I’m not an enemy of Al-Jazeera - I want it to be strong and it needs to succeed. But it seems that the most vocal journalists with the best access are told to leave."

Now back in the UK, Ms Aziz is collaborating with Yvonne Ridley on a book about Al-Jazeera, and will also be working with the NUJ to highlight issues faced by journalists from minority groups.

"I feel I have a moral obligation to support my colleagues working under difficult circumstances around the world and within this organisation," she said.

See also:
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story788.shtml
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story769.shtml
http://www.journalism.co.uk/profiles/profile6.shtml
http://www.nuj.org.uk
http://www.ifj.org

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