GENEVA — The boss of Al Jazeera English warned staffers to avoid looking like they’re participating in political protests — just hours after one of the network’s reporters appeared to join a march calling for Israel to be kicked out of the Eurovision Song Contest, The Post has learned.
Journalists at the Qatar-backed news outlet — long accused of being a “Hamas mouthpiece” by Israeli leaders — received the memo last month after reporter Charlie Angela broadcast a segment from a 2,000-strong march in Vienna calling for Israeli singer Noam Bettan to be kicked out of the annual music competition.
In Angela’s report, hard-left demonstrators were seen carrying placards with slogans such as “no platform for Zionism and occupation!” while wearing Palestinian scarves known as keffiyehs.
Angela — who initially stood in front of the passing demonstrators as she reported that they were accusing Eurovision “of normalizing war crimes by allowing Israel to participate in the competition” — began to walk alongside them after a few seconds.
Israel participates in the Eurovision Song Contest because its public broadcaster is a member of the European Broadcasting Union, the organization that runs the event.
As Angela continued to report, she walked with the protesters for about 20 seconds before stopping again about halfway through the segment, which was posted on X in early afternoon on May 16.
A few hours later, Ibrahim Helal, news director for Al Jazeera’s English division, fired off a memo to staffers, a screenshot of which was exclusively obtained by The Post on Thursday.
“It is fine for correspondents to move through demonstrations, and speak to participants if needed. However, we should NEVER appear to march as participants ourselves,” Helal wrote. “Walking in front of, or in the middle of, a march in a way that makes us look part of it is not acceptable.”
“When we cover marches, protests and demonstrations around the world, we must remember that our job is to cover these events professionally, not to appear as part of them or supporters of their cause,” Helal wrote.
“The line between journalism and activism is becoming increasingly blurred, so please make sure we keep a clear visual and editorial distance from any movement or action we are covering,” he added.
The memo didn’t single out Angela’s report on the anti-Israel demonstration — which initially sparked confusion in the newsroom, according to sources.
“We had no idea what it was about,” an Al Jazeera veteran told The Post. “But the two top stories at the time were the Israel-Iran war and the Ebola outbreak. We knew instinctively it wasn’t going to be a protest about Ebola that Helal was talking about given all the discussion regarding Israel being in the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Israel placed second behind Bulgaria in last month’s Eurovision, which is watched by millions around the world although it is lesser-known in the US. Anti-Israel protesters in Europe and beyond said Israel should have been barred from this year’s competition due to the conflicts in the Middle East.
“A widely-held opinion in the newsroom was that Israel should not be taking part,” said a second Al Jazeera insider. “When the results were coming through, everyone was cheering for Bulgaria to win and there was a big sigh of relief when Israel lost out and finished second. It’s a real echo chamber.”
In April, The Post revealed that Al Jazeera built a secret backup studio in Doha, Qatar, out of fear of a missile attack or cyberattack amid the US-Israel war with Iran.
The network’s journalists fiercely defend their work as independent, though critics, especially Israeli politicians, accuse it for shilling for Iran and its proxies including Hamas and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
“Al Jazeera was the only international network that had unfettered access to senior Iranian officials at the start of the war,” an Al Jazeera source noted. “We were able to move freely around the country.”
In February, the Washington Free Beacon obtained a leaked copy of Al Jazeera’s style guide that has a blanket ban on calling the Islamic State a terrorist organization. The word “Islamist” was also reportedly verboten.
Helal, a former BBC boss, ran Al Jazeera Arabic as editor-in-chief through 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The outlet’s footage of captured allied troops and civilian dead enraged the George W. Bush administration, which accused it of broadcasting terrorist propaganda.
In 2008, a former female colleague of Helal unsuccessfully sued the channel in the UK, accusing Helal of discriminating against her on the grounds of sex, race and religion.
Steve Clark, the network’s former director of news and the claimant’s husband, testified that Helal operated with “the management style of Saddam Hussein.”
The Post has sought comment from Al Jazeera.
