Video still from al-Jazeera
Many Americans think of the Qatari satellite channel al-Jazeera as the mouthpiece of terrorists. But its coverage of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt is winning it respect as the definitive chronicler of the Arab revolution. In Egypt, al-Jazeera's headquarters was closed down, its journalists briefly arrested, its equipment confiscated and its satellite feed blocked, yet the network managed to provide gritty, up-close coverage of the situation in the streets. Available on cable in only three U.S. cities, it found new audiences online: traffic to its website increased twentyfold.