Let's talk about Al-Jazeera, shall we? It was created in 1996 in response to the growing demand for hard-hitting news and the growing weariness and distaste for dull government-controlled news. A fair objective, if you ask me. When Kuwait was invaded by Iraq in 1990, Arab government news channels pretended the whole thing didn't happen and avoided the subject for 3 days. Imagine! An Arab country gets invaded and taken over by a neighboring Arab country and it doesn't even make the news!! This would never happen today and I would like to think that Al-Jazeera - or the many stations formed in its wake - would be first on the scene with that particular breaking news item.

Since its first broadcast, Al-Jazeera has drawn fire from many governments in the Arab world, not used to its blunt and frank coverage. For the first time ever, Arab viewers were treated to the breaking news of the day without having to sit through the coma-inducing coverage of their leaders' "guests" or "visiting dignitaries" confirming mutual relationships or other such nonsense. But it is mostly their editorial work and not their news coverage that has drawn the most fire. On programs such as "Opposite Direction" the host relishes in pitting two extreme points of view against each other, where he literally inflames the discussion from the word "go". More often than not, these shows descend into screaming matches - his guests not being used to civil discourse on TV and forgetting that the cameras are rolling. Arab viewers, brought up on rote government spin, were drawn to this curious new phenomenon in much the same way Americans are drawn to Jerry Springer's daily freakshow.

Ever since its foundation from the ruins of the BBC's Arabic News Service, I have passionately defended Al-Jazeera as the bravest news network in the Arab world, and always felt that we need more stations like this and not less. Many Kuwaitis have repeatedly complained that it is too blatantly anti-Kuwaiti and too biased in favor of Iraq. Again, we were not used to being criticized on live TV and I always felt that we were being a bit childish for not having things our way. But one positive side-effect is that it has woken us up from our deep slumber and forced us to fight back and fight hard to present our case to the Arab world, and for that I have to (reluctantly) thank Al-Jazeera. It's ripple effect can be felt across the region as more news outlets are formed to compete with it, and this competition for viewership has meant more news and less fluff - well, almost. An unfortunate side-effect is that, once balanced news channels like Abu Dhabi and the new Al-Arabiya have adopted the no-holds-barred style of Al-Jazeera so that anyone looking for straight news devoid of sensationalism won't find much to choose from.

What upsets me, however, about Al-Jazeera is its claim to be the only truly independent uncensored Arab news channel when it's anything but. I also hate that the Western media seem to buy that line wholesale. If it was truly independent then all Arab countries should be fair game for criticism. Qatar, its host, is off-limits and for some inexplicable reason so is Iraq - a regime that defies belief in its well-documented brutality. For example, way before this war was even planned, its reporters made a habit of making snide remarks, devoid of objectivity about Kuwait, belittling our claims against Iraq and literally scolding us to "get over it!!"... whereas Iraq's responsibility for the mess we're in goes unnoticed. Kuwait is now attacked for being the launching ground of the coalition forces in this current war, an act of treason in the eyes of Al-Jazeera, yet somehow the fact that Qatar is where CENTCOM is based goes without comment. And I've given enough space in this blog to the nauseating Abdel-Bari Atwan... so the less said about him, the better.

Western media and governments always used to criticize Al-Jazeera for its coverage of the Palestinian uprising (Intifada), forgetting that Arabs need a pro-Palestinian news outlet to counter the pro-Israeli western news channels. I won't get into that subject here, but suffice it to say that it has emboldened Al-Jazeera to go against the grain of both western and Arab media. Never has this been more clear than it is now. It is one thing to claim to deliver the news from an "Arab perspective", but it is quite another to defend the Iraqi regime so blatantly and blanket this defense in concern for the Iraqi people. If Al-Jazeera and its many talking heads were truly concerned for innocent Iraqis caught in the horror of battle, they could have used its considerable influence to rally Arab public opinion against Iraq's dictatorship many years ago. Instead, in an irresponsible grab for ratings, it has become the mouthpiece for an evil regime, and practically portrayed Saddam as a hero. I'd love to see how Iraqis, eventually freed from his tyranny, will feel towards Al-Jazeera.

Having let all that off my chest, I would be even more disappointed if Al-Jazeera was shut down by pressure from angry Arab governments. If we truly aspire to a free and democratic Arab world where information flows freely, then we need more channels like Al-Jazeera and not less. In its defense, it has been instrumental in providing information about Osama Bin Laden, and its contacts with Al-Qaeda have actually helped in the war against terrorism. It's also the only news channel to regularly interview Israeli officials, though I'm not sure what good came out of that. Yes, they do need to be more objective and less hostile and they do need to stop defending Saddam so vigorously. I truly hope they will mature into a more balanced news channel. After all, they're only 6 years old - and they're acting their age.