Al Jazeera announces launch of conservative digital platform

February 24, 2021

By Don Irvine

Al Jazeera, the Qatari government-funded media company, announced Tuesday that it will launch a digital news platform targeting American conservatives.

The move comes five years after shutting down Al Jazeera’s U.S.-based cable channel, which they purchased from former Vice President Al Gore and was geared toward a liberal American audience.

The company hired Fox News veteran Scott Norvell as editor-in-chief for the platform, which is called Rightly. Norvell is hoping to attract a wide range of conservatives to the site.

“American conservatism has never been monolithic,” Norvell said in a statement.  “With Rightly, we are hoping to create a platform that amplifies the voices of an array of personalities that more accurately reflects the racial, cultural and generational diversity of center-right politics in America than existing outlets. We aim to bring new Americans, young Americans, and Americans of color together and present conservative ideas that transcend the barriers which identity politics aim to put between us.”

In addition to Norvell, Al Jazeera announced that the platform’s first show, Right Now with Stephen Kent, will debut Thursday and will feature interviews with newsmakers and opinion leaders “from across the political spectrum.” Kent has appeared multiple times on television and hosts a podcast about Star Wars and politics.

The network, which has not had a good reputation with conservatives, explained what it is trying to achieve with Rightly in a statement announcing the platform.

“Al Jazeera is excited to expand its digital footprint with Rightly to provide fresh voices that are too often left out of the mainstream media a space to engage and debate the issues that matter most to them,” said Michael Weaver, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Growth at Al Jazeera Media Network’s Digital Division. “Rightly will also be a platform where the full spectrum of political voices can expect to have, or find, a thoughtful debate on the future of the United States.”

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