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A television cameraman takes video of the Al Jazeera America television broadcast studio on West 34th Street August 16, 2013 in New York. | Getty Al Jazeera America signs off for good at 9 p.m.

Al Jazeera America’s political correspondent, Michael Shure, has his last hit with the network at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. Fifteen minutes later, at 9, the network will end its final live broadcast, and, by midnight, the channel will no longer exist.

But while Shure acknowledged the sadness and apprehension surrounding the closure of the network and the loss of 700 or so jobs, he said there’s a sense of pride among his colleagues for the work they have done over the past 2½ years.

“It seems sort of celebratory,” Shure said in an interview from the network's New York offices. "Everyone is very proud of Al Jazeera, that against the odds of difficulties with management initially, everyone is very proud of the journalism and the product that is on the air. Everyone is smarter after you turn it off."

On Tuesday night, the network is airing a three-hour program showcasing Al Jazeera America’s work. In an email to staff, CEO Al Anstey and President Kate O’Brian thanked the network’s employees for their hard work uncovering stories, holding power to account and reporting with integrity.

"Throughout our short history we have held true to this mission. We did so by putting the human being at the forefront of our editorial decisions: people across America and the world who are living the events taking place around them; people who are impacted by decisions made by governments, powerful individuals, or corporations. People who would not otherwise have a voice in mainstream media unless we covered them,” they wrote.

In January, Doha, Qatar-based Al Jazeera announced that it was shutting down its American operation, saying the channel’s business model was “no longer sustainable.”

Since then, Al Jazeera America staff members have been working in a sort of limbo, continuing to produce but knowing that their time was limited.

Shure, who worked at Current TV before it became Al Jazeera America, said he’s had some trouble getting credentialed and convincing campaigns to give him their time. In Charleston, South Carolina, Donald Trump, who would normally recognize and grant Shure an interview after debates, walked up to him asking to be reminded which outlet he was from.

“I said Al Jazeera America, and he said, ‘Oh you’re going out of business,’ and he walked away,” Shure said. “So there was this feeling of dead man walking. But I also said to myself, ‘Hey, my next boss could be watching this or seeing this, so just do a good job.'"

The network is assisting staff with job fairs and generous severance packages, Shure said. There isn’t anger, he said, as much as there is a feeling of being let down. Tuesday night, the staff, flown in from across the country, will gather for a farewell party in New York after the 9 p.m. sign-off.

"There’s a finality to this. When Current TV went away, there was the mystery of AJAM but great promise for a lot of spending and support and a real commitment to staying on the air,” he said. “It’s all very pioneering. You felt like you were a part of something that was really big."