When Al Jazeera began in 1996, there were few news broadcasts in the Middle East that were not state-run. Cable options were limited to CNN, which had already been adopted with an American slant, and the BBC World Service, which was having difficulty keeping its Middle East bureaus operational due to censorship. The time was ripe for Al Jazeera to fill a gap in the market for regional and international news free from ruling party propaganda in countries such as Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Over the years, by maintaining its fierce editorial independence while covering some of the world's most repressive regimes, Al Jazeera has made many enemies. At no time, however, was their position more at risk than when the Bush administration began its campaign of intimidation, censorship and perception management in the days immediately following 9/11 and in the run-up to the Iraq War. Among the many dictatorial regimes that Al Jazeera has faced, the democratic United States has proven to be its most formidable adversary. I've seen Egyptian Jihane Noujaim's documentary Control Room several times, and each time it was emotionally difficult to watch. The cinema verité technique used by the director accurately captures the widespread sentiment among the Arab media of "damned if you do, damned if you don't." Middle Eastern media is a close-knit family, and many of the same people hold media jobs across different networks and platforms. In essence, they all share the political bent that Hassan Ibrahim, who I respect immensely, shares through his skeptical questions in the documentary. He's not exactly a radical. He worked for the BBC until their problems in the 1990s, then went to work for Al Jazeera. And I will put me... at the center of the paper... of Qatar and, more figuratively, in the sense of their independence from the state and state-censored media of the Middle East. Given the choice between state media in Syria or Egypt or Saudi Arabia or Morocco, and Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera gives people a real chance to have more impartial and certainly more open news. Since most people in the Middle East have their own satellite dish and receiver, even these governments have little ability to block them. They give viewers what they need to know. Al Jazeera may not be perfect; it may well give viewers something of what they want to experience, but it's still in its teens and hasn't yet had the benefit of long experience like many Western media outlets. But when they work well, they come closer to promoting a democratic ideal than Bush ever managed. Al Jazeera informs the population of the Middle East.