The Saudi-financed BBC Arabic News satellite service had collapsed over issues of censorship. Qatar's shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa II was looking to create a more democratic aura for his country. Qatar's new leader saw Al-Jazeera as a way to promote liberalism on his little peninsula. Qatar is almost the smallest country in the world, with a population of 100,000 it has been lately described as the capital of Al-Jazeera! The government of Qatar funds the news channel with money from advertisement. This humble budget and staff was able to reach an audience of 35 million news hungry Arabs in the region. Universal news coverage such as what Al-Jazeera offers is very much needed in the region. Al-Jazeera has become the voice of the people, all the people, breaking all government-placed borders and offering lessons to the western media on true freedom of the press and expression.

Al-Jazeera, according to the assistant editor in chief, is said to have "about 500 people all over the world working very hard." This station started back in 1996 with daily six-hour schedule. It started gaining popularity during its coverage of the "Desert Fox" operation against Iraq in 1998. The live satellite coverage of the events was the start of a revolution in the Arabic media and information sector. Al-Jazeera had set the standards for the rest of the Arabic speaking world to follow, and is now according to the Washington Post "taking pleasure in lecturing the West about press freedom and responsibility." Al-Jazeera maintains a 24-hour nonstop schedule using a bevy of satellite dishes with 40 correspondences all over the Arabic world, Europe and America, Al-Jazeera maintains a 24-hour nonstop schedule.

Al-Jazeera has portrayed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through a different lens. The pro-Israeli bias media was getting challenged and discredited by images never seen before. These images have shown the Arabic world the severity of the violence imposed by Israel through its illegal occupation of Palestinian land. It gave the heroic Intifada of the Palestinian people visibility and tangibility. Arabs have rushed with their donations; they have also condemned abusive actions. This was all a direct result of the detailed news coverage and the represented truth by Al-Jazeera reporters. They challenged competition in news coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and managed to improve the overall international coverage. Charities and relief agencies are also grateful, for Al-Jazeera helps them get donations by exposing hunger, poverty and the suffering of the region.

Al-Jazeera's latest global celebrity status came as a result of coverage from Kabul. They had established a bureau in Kabul two years ago, at a time when no other news agency was interested in that area. Al-Jazeera editors felt that there were stories to be told from that region, which proved to be a wise decision. The result was exclusive coverage from Kabul, in which the so-called "the war against terror" is widely exposed. The nature of human beings has constructed all kinds of criticism of the news channel. This is the only channel allowed to air from the Taliban side of the war. Al-Jazeera had been very objective in their coverage of the war but has still provoked familiar criticism generated mostly by patriotic Americans and other larger and richer news agencies. Al-Jazeera has hosted many political figures from all sides, to give the world a greater understanding of the situation at hand, as well as fair representation from all sides. "Do you think there should only be one opinion? Should we deal with only one side?" Al-Jazeera's managing director stated in defense of his stations coverage of the War.

The Committee To Protect Journalist (CPJ) has issued a statement in which they urged the engagement rather than censorship of Al-Jazeera. CPJ have advised the response to be in same form in which the US would respond to local critics-by getting out its own message instead of attempts to censor.

Al-Jazeera has reached a world audience over the last month and will have no problems building their new budget and agenda set to start with this November. Al-Jazeera is now planning to expand and enlarge its cooperation to include English language coverage. They have revealed the goal set for next year, which is: "English language programming that would reach non-Arabic speaking Muslims and the United Sates."

This little station in Qatar has raised many issues to all audiences worldwide. They should be praised and congratulated. The world will be a better place if more stations would follow in the footsteps of Al-Jazeera.