Al Jazeera Balkans (AJB), the regional arm of the Qatar-based broadcaster, aired its final in-house produced program on Saturday, marking the beginning of the network’s full shutdown, scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
At the close of the noon news bulletin, anchor Dalija Hasanbegović signed off with a farewell message, stating that it was the last show produced by the Sarajevo-based team.
“Thank you for nearly 14 years of trust. We are proud of each of the 4,970 days we spent serving you,” she said, addressing viewers directly.
“We are signing off from our central studio in Sarajevo,” she concluded. Until the end of the month, AJB will continue to broadcast reruns before the signal is fully discontinued.
Closure reasons undisclosed
Al Jazeera launched its Balkans network in 2011 to cover countries of the former Yugoslavia. Its first programming director was veteran journalist Goran Milić.
Around 200 employees at the network’s headquarters in Sarajevo and regional bureaus in Zagreb, Belgrade, Podgorica, and Pristina were reportedly informed of the closure and layoffs at the last moment.
The AJB management has not officially disclosed the reasons behind the decision. However, media reports suggest that Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha may have been dissatisfied with the financial performance of the regional operation.