The Taming of Al Jazeera

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The New York Times reports, "When a Saudi court sentenced a young woman to 200 lashes in November after she pressed charges against seven men who had raped her, the case provoked outrage and headlines around the world, including in the Middle East. But not at Al Jazeera, the Arab world's leading satellite television channel, seen by 40 million people. ... For the past three months Al Jazeera, which once infuriated the Saudi royal family with its freewheeling newscasts, has treated the kingdom with kid gloves, media analysts say. The newly cautious tone appears to have been dictated to Al Jazeera's management by the rulers of Qatar, where Al Jazeera has its headquarters. ... The specter of Iran's nuclear ambitions may be particularly daunting to tiny Qatar, which also is the site of a major American military base. The new policy is the latest chapter in a gradual domestication of Al Jazeera, once reviled by American officials as little more than a terrorist propaganda outlet."