Al Jazeera Coverage Enrages Dictators, Wins Global Viewers

“Don’t believe those misleading dog stations,” Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said this week. He wasn’t referring to CNN or the BBC.

Arab-owned television channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have been denounced by targets of the Middle Eastern revolts, showing they’ve played a pivotal role in the uprisings that have shaken countries from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya and Yemen. Qaddafi called them the “biggest enemy.” In Egypt, Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau was shut down at the start of rallies that led to the ouster of 82-year-old president Hosni Mubarak.