Al Jazeera is quite extraordinary. Who would have thought the most democratic, liberal news station, striving to cover “the opinion and the other opinion” would spring up in the middle of the most heavily dictatored and censored countries of the world?

Al Jazeera was born out of BBC-trained Arabs who nobly strive to cover the news from all perspectives. Sounds lovely, if a little naive. They have the perfect set up at the moment: they work out of a tiny but extremely rich state called Qatar where they are funded by a “democratic-minded” monarch who doesn’t dictate/censor the station. Currently they’re feeling the burn from every country under the sun, from America to Egypt for their exclusive interviews and footage as well as their hard hitting discussion panels. Since 1996 their reach has been amazing, becoming the premier news source for people all over the middle east. They were suppose to become independent from the monarch after 5 years, but while they manage to fly in the face of every Arab nation, how can they gain advertisers? Its a lose – lose situation.

But good luck to them…