This $7.98 Powell’s purchase was quite the find. First, the negative about the book. Usually, I have more negative than positive, cause I’m just cranky. But not this time. My criticism of the book is that the authors rely on anecdotal exposition more than they should. For instance, to assert that Al-Jazeera is objective, they could have offered studies or statistics of Al-Jazeera’s coverage. Instead, the authors list several episodes of several talk shows and explain how the guests were on opposite sides of the fence. Not very convincing in that respect.

The most illuminating parts to me were the information on Qatar’s founding by the ruling family of Qatar and it’s relationship with Qatar. That family bankrolled Al-Jazeera, and the government protects the freedom of the press for Al-Jazeera. But strangely, or not so strangely, Al-Jazeera provides very little coverage of Qatar on it’s airwaves.

(Full review at my blog) ( )