Al-Jazeera on My Televison Screan?

By some measures, its supporters say, Al-Jazeera offers coverage that's more balanced than U.S. networks. A recent American University survey of correspondents in Iraq found that they felt news was often scrubbed of the horrors they witnessed on the ground. Reporters complained of pressure to self-censor, and of unrealistic demands to produce "good news." A typical anonymous comment: "I think we sanitized the images too much so that people do not see the reality of war."

I personally was left shocked by the images I saw when we watched the documentary on Al-Jazeera in class. In the US we do not see dead bodies or blood. Pein is right when he quotes that we do not know the reality of war, how could we? Our news channels show us only the same typical shots and images. We are showed only the minimum truth of the war, and we do not ask to see more. Maybe that is why the US government is so scared of the Al-Jazeera International plan, especially with the plans to broadcast in English. Once they are more accessible to a larger audience, even Americans, then what will our government do. There would be no way of censoring there broadcast, or imposing control on them, as is done with American reporters. They know they can not show such images as Al-Jazeera, it is simply not aloud in America. But if the public will be able to see the difference in reporting, how will they react to the contrast?