The conventional wisdom (via the Los Angeles Times) has it that the current Egyptian uprising will be to the Al Jazeera English cable network what the Persian Gulf War was to CNN in the early 1990s:
Some American pundits have been calling this Al Jazeera’s “CNN moment,” referring to that network’s coverage of the Gulf War, which catapulted it into popularity. But it goes beyond the question of whether Al Jazeera English will finally become part of a premium cable package. Never before has civil unrest on this scale been chronicled in real time with such intimate and multi-platform ambition.
The LA Times calls it “superlative coverage of the protests first in Tunisia and now in Egypt.”
Judge for yourself here.
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Jeremy Scahill, of The Nation, documents the U.S. government’s ugly history with Al Jazeera. According to Scahill, one of the things that makes Al Jazeera so successful in its coverage is their unembedded journalism, journalism that accurately reflects the situation on the ground. He’s got a point and he goes into that in his article.
Here’s another example of the U.S. government’s hypocrisy when it comes to Al Jazeera. While the Obama Administration relies on Al Jazeera for its amazing on the ground coverage in Tahrir Square, they also wrongfully criticized the network for the same professional, courageous, and extraordinary coverage they provided during Israel’s atrocious Operation Cast Lead. Alex Kane of Mondoweiss documents this.