Qatar · Bias: State-funded
Government of Qatar
Launched from Doha in 1996 with funding from the Qatari royal family, Al Jazeera built its reputation covering the Arab world with a bluntness Western networks wouldn't touch — including airing Osama bin Laden tapes after 9/11 that made it a household name in the U.S. overnight. The English-language arm followed in 2006, anchored out of newsrooms in Doha, London, Kuala Lumpur, and Washington. That fearlessness has limits: Al Jazeera has been banned outright in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE, and in 2024 Israel raided its Jerusalem offices, confiscated equipment, and arrested several of its journalists on espionage charges the network calls politically motivated. It'll cover almost anyone's dirty laundry except Qatar's own.
In January 2011, Al Jazeera published the Palestine Papers — nearly 1,700 leaked confidential documents from inside the Palestinian Authority's own negotiating team, revealing just how far Palestinian officials had privately offered to compromise with Israel on Jerusalem and refugees during years of peace talks. The goal was pure transparency: show the public what their own leaders were quietly conceding behind closed doors. Both Al Jazeera and The Guardian, who partnered on verification, confirmed the documents were authentic — even an adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister backed that up. The fallout landed almost entirely on the Palestinian Authority, whose negotiators were furious and accused Al Jazeera, funded by a rival Gulf government, of using the leak as a political weapon against them rather than against Israel.