I believed they were sucking up to the Qatari regime until late 2009 when they nearly caused themselves to be de-funded after exposing that 20% of the country's oil exports were unaccounted for.

They are censored, by a tiny emirate which I don't care about, and even then they test limits of their own sandbox there. It's not like Qatar has a huge global influence and alliances it must watch over. And their own self-censorship regarding Qatar is one of omission, rather than, say, creative reporting.

Al-Jazeera is good for us because it holds the four major forces in the region accountable and on their toes: the regimes, Israel & America, Iran, and Saudi Arabia and its Jihadi minions.

Al-Jazeera angered everyone when it broadcast a program calling the Arabic language obselete and said university students should be taught in English to compete in the global economy. Stuff like that doesn't buy you a lot of friends.