Marcy McGinnis Resigns at Al Jazeera America

By Mark Joyella 

Marcy McGinnis, senior vice president of outreach at Al Jazeera America, has resigned, TVNewser has learned. In an email to the newsroom, obtained by TVNewser, McGinnis said her decision was motivated by a statement made last week by Al Jazeera America chief executive officer Ehab Al Shihabi:

May 4, 2015

Dear All:

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Today I am resigning my position at Al Jazeera America. Last week, Ehab reminded us at the Senior Leadership meeting and again at the All Hands meeting 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. I find myself at that crossroads now and so have decided to resign.

To my colleagues who work so hard every day in the pursuit of good, pure, honest journalism, I wish you success. It was a pleasure and honor to work with you and especially to lead the top notch news gathering team. Thank you for your support and for your friendship.

Sincerely,

Marcy

Last week, AJAM’s executive vice president of human resources Diana Lee and the executive vice president of communications, Dawn Bridges, quit the network. Those resignations came soon after attorneys for a former AJAM employee, Matthew Luke, filed a $15 million lawsuit against the network.

McGinnis’s resignation comes as Al Jazeera America has worked on public relations and damage control, releasing a statement today from Al Shihabi, who dismissed charges of anti-semitism raised in the lawsuit as “absurd.”

Before Al Jazeera, McGinnis worked at CBS News for three decades and held several executive roles including senior vice president of news coverage. She was previously the CBS News London Bureau Chief.

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