By now, it's clear to anyone who's spent five minutes watching al-Jazeera's coverage of Egypt -- or at least the AJ English version -- that it's vastly superior to any other broadcast. I'm biased: I've been an occasional commentator on AJE for two years. But I like going on AJE because its anchors and its reporters care a hell of a lot about foreign and foreign-policy reporting. There's a depth, a consistency and a subtlety to its international coverage that no other news channel possesses. Watching its reporters beat up on Mubarak regime apologists is a reminder of why I got into this business in the first place.
I'm also lucky enough to be able to watch AJE on Comcast in the DC area. Most other American cable subscribers can't get AJE. Wadah Khanfar, al-Jazeera's director general, reminds us that most providers still treat AJE as if it was terrorist TV. It's laughable to anyone who views AJE consistently -- alas, not many people in the U.S. Come for the pathbreaking Egypt coverage, stay for excellent pieces on faux liberalization in Myanmar or the prospective Duvalier return to Haiti. There's no extremism there, just thorough journalism and small-l liberalism.