Al-Jazeera Anchorwomen Quit Over On-Screen Style Clash

Five Al-Jazeera anchorwomen have quit after the station's deputy editor-in-chief Ayman Jaballah allegedly made "offensive remarks" about their wardrobe, the Daily Mail reports. Joumana Nammour, Lina Zahr al-Din, Jullinar Mousa, Luna al-Shibl and Nawfar Afli regularly appear on the broadcasts wearing make-up and with their hair uncovered. However, Al-Jazeera maintains that Jaballah has the right to tell news anchors how to dress.

The women complained to the station's management in January about Jaballah. But an inquiry cleared him of any wrongdoing:

"The on-screen style and general appearance of broadcasters and announcers are the legal right of the network to determine and develop," it ruled, adding that it had to take into account "the spirit and principles of the channel and the image it wishes to present".

A staff journalist told the AFP, "This collective resignation is not motivated just by the growing pressure on the presenters concerning their dress code, which was evoked by the media. The conflicts run much deeper."

Comments

[2centsplain]

12:22 PM on 06/04/2010

2nd rate. Time to grow up.

[George Lacy]

04:29 PM on 06/03/2010

"But an inquiry cleared him of any wrongdoing:"

So the one guy says to the other guy, "did you do anything wrong?"
And the other guys says to the one guy, "of course not. besides they are women."
And the one guys says, "Well done, I see nothing wrong here."

[norepublicanleftbehind]

03:44 PM on 06/03/2010

Aljezeera made a big mistake and will has lost a lot of credibilty.

[morchid]

01:32 PM on 06/03/2010

if i can add the anchorewomen are from lebanon , tunisia and syria and they made clear today that it wasn't because of the clothes but about other things

and yestarday l jazeera arabic (it is different from aljazeera english changed the news director and his team so they will try to keep the anchorwomen

[morchid]

01:26 PM on 06/03/2010

In fact the arab journal who spread this rumors is al hayat (saudi arabia) liberal but make less critics toward saudi arabia

then i read today that the new team of aljazeera will nogociate with the anchors that they can stay add to that the most of them are from lebanon when al jazeera in based in qatar

Al arabiya the rival of al jazeera will try to get them

for the people who talks sometimes lie and make some strenge statements watch the tv channels before talking then you can judge

[Mermaid46]

01:18 AM on 06/03/2010

Usually in professional news programs there are people on staff to make sure that the make up and hair of the anchors looks good in the eye of the camera, male and female. If they have been having their faces and hair taken care of all this time, the company has been agreeing to have their faces and hair made presentable until the moment this one guy had a problem.

Suddenly it is not okay.

Sounds like he is either trying to impress someone with this same negative attitude about women, or he is jealous of the following that perhaps these women have. Best tactic to get rid of the employees you don't want? Make the environment as unpleasant as possible and make them leave of their own volition.

[tnlcallen]

05:46 AM on 06/03/2010

I'm guessing this has more to do with religious extremism.

[livnletliv]

08:15 AM on 06/02/2010

When i first read this piece in arabic, i knew immediately it would be cherry picked by western media and spiced up a little as it was....While i agree with the anchorwomen since i always thought they were decently/professionally dressed, they were not forced to cover their hair much less wear burkas...here's the livestreaming link to aljazeera so you can judge for yourselves:
www.aljazeera.net\livestreaming
the truth as always is in the middle, their boss is alittle bit square and wants them to cover the area under the neck and not wear too much make up...while they consider such remarks insulting! no need to spice things up or bring women rights into it.

[mamacat]

07:54 AM on 06/02/2010

The battle for women's rights, taking place right in front of our eyes.

[pissdoffinohio]

07:29 AM on 06/02/2010

1st~i agree with the women who quit. exacly the thing to do.
2nd~ i thnk we are respondng to this becos of our feelngs of al Jazerra. unfairly changng the game play midgame is rong. but it hits at the nerve more due to emotions of the burka.

airlines policed ther uniforms often. evry compny has a 'dress code'.

this jjust changd midgame. no fair.

leeve the spelling alone, spelling police, its med

[toxicbrainpoison]

01:26 AM on 06/02/2010

hes a sexist piece of crap. Theyre trying to be taken seriously as journalists, but if the women are in burkas might as well put them back in the kitchen.

[Garioch]

06:47 PM on 06/02/2010

They're not asking them to be in Burkas though so what does that comment have to do with the story?

[Zanubiyah]

12:23 AM on 06/02/2010

oh...and by the way...

They never covered. In fact very few al Jazerra commentators cover thier hair, but they do have to look professional.

I dont know where this article gets that the reason they quit was because 'they didnt cover'.

[Jim Accardi]

12:26 AM on 06/02/2010

oh please its just men trying to control their women like always

[Zanubiyah]

12:31 AM on 06/02/2010

Jim...

al Jazerra is a private company. They at some point agreed FREELY with the style of dress to take the job I am sure, because they are commentators and are the 'face' of al Jazerra when they are on air.

So...to abruptly decide not to follow the style of dress they agreed to when they took the job is not the fault of al Jazerra. They did the right thing and quit, which is thier choice, since they could no longer agree with the company rule they agreed to when they were hired on.

This isnt about women's rights. This is about an employee no longer comfortable with something they agreed with before, as a condition of taking the job.

[ladydragon]

07:37 AM on 06/02/2010

Zanubiyah: the men in your society treat the women like DOGS. If these women took these jobs knowing that they would be required to cover their hair and that policy was not enforced from the very beginning, then why is a man making an issue of it after the fact. I applaud these women for quitting, the argument was not about them covering their hair it is about control over mind body and soul. If you want a man to control your every breath then that's your choice but don't make excuses for that man's behavior. The 5 women will be welcomed at another news organization to present the news and commentary with or without their hair covered.

[SukiTheCat]

01:29 PM on 06/02/2010

okay , we get it, you hate Muslims and their primitive societ

[Zanubiyah]

06:56 PM on 06/02/2010

ladydragon...

This article is news only to cater to your mindset. If this had been IBM, or British Petroleum complaining about the way thier women dress, it wouldn't have even made the news.

This article is here because it is 'al Jazerra', and Arab owned company. It is supposed to give ammunition to people like you, who want to portray Arabs, Muslims, and Islam as 'oppressive to women'.

However, it is contridictive to a mindset like yours. These women are commentators, seen everyday by men and women in an importan role in thier lives. They had a choice, decided not to go along with the dress code and quit thier jobs

...and they do this without permission of the men. You know...like women who make...well...here it is....choices.

[Zanubiyah]

12:20 AM on 06/02/2010

actually...

al Jazerra does have the right to tell women how they should present themselves on air. To me, the more professional looking the commentators are, the more credibility they seem to have in reporting the news.

To me, al Jazerra female on air commentators look very professional. I like the style.

[Aranxa]

12:04 AM on 06/02/2010

Calling this a "Style Clash" in the headline is extremely belittling to these women who are taking a political, religious and societal stand. This is not about fashion. I expect more enlightened reporting from HP.

[michaleenflynn]

12:22 AM on 06/02/2010

Excellent point.

[sfbbmom]

11:42 PM on 06/01/2010

Unless these newscasters return and are allowed to be professional, I will no longer watch Al-Jazeera.

[Jim Accardi]

12:27 AM on 06/02/2010

when have you ever watched al jazeera ?

[kaib57]

10:49 PM on 06/01/2010

I applaud these women for taking a stand and refusing to be treated like second class citizens. I hope another news organization will quickly hire these courageous, principled journalists.