“..Throughout the 11 days of Israel’s pummeling of Gaza, live coverage of the war hasn’t made it into most American living rooms.
That’s because Israel, America’s staunch ally, isn’t allowing journalists to enter Gaza..
..while Al Jazeera, called anti-American and pro-terrorist by many in Washington, is the only network broadcasting live images from Gaza to the world.
The 350 reporters who descended on Israel when the conflict began are stuck at the border between Israel and Gaza.
Israel says that opening border crossings to journalists would put their soldiers in danger..
..but many have accused them of trying to control the story.
Instead of giving their viewers up-close pictorial evidence of what is occurring in Gaza, television networks have been restricted to showing their viewers plumes of smoke as they rise in the distance.
But Al Jazeera, the Qatari network that has previously undergone attacks and had its reporters arrested by the U.S. military, remains typically defiant.
While other networks are increasingly severed from Gaza as phone lines are cut and 75 percent of the territory is without electricity..
..Al Jazeera is bringing its approximately 140 million English- and Arabic-speaking viewers live images of bombings, tanks rolling through Gaza’s farmland..
..and interviews with civilians and aid workers inside Gaza city.
Like all of the networks, Al Jazeera gives constant hard-hitting interviews with politicians and analysts from Israel, the West Bank, and the rest of the Arab world.
But while others can only balance pundits with more pundits..
..Al Jazeera has been taking the viewer to the scene to weigh the words of politicians against the reality on the ground..”
go to source/story>>What You’d Know About Israel If You Watched Al Jazeera TV | ForeignPolicy | AlterNet
