One suspects that a battle royal is only just around the corner with conservative media organizations such as Fox News as well as the U.S. administration.

Although the new network said it will have access to 70 million to 80 million homes worldwide, in America, no major cable or satellite operators have reported plans to carry the Qatar-based channel. Al Jazeera English is only available through the Internet and a satellite company specializing in international television feeds. Ironically, it is the world's freest media market that poses the biggest challenge to Al Jazeera English. Some critics argue that allowing it to air on American television would be essentially giving a megaphone to anti-American propaganda.

The priority of the channel is therefore to prove that it is a reliable and impartial broadcaster.

Steve Clark, Al Jazeera English's director of news, said: "Our news reporting will uphold the strictest guiding principles of accuracy, impartiality and objectivity, whilst being fearless in its reporting. On air, Al Jazeera English will be innovative and provocative, but above all we will earn viewer trust through the impact of accuracy, integrity and speed. We have no domestic agenda and no political bias. Our coverage will be fearless, provocative and the most informed on what's happening on the ground in the world's hot spots."

The English channel has been joined in the past months by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, whose aim is to extend and complement the vision and mission of Al Jazeera. The focus of the channel - as reported by Tawfiq Founi, supervisor of Al Jazeera Documentary Channel - is on "the gray areas and issues," i.e. stories that are distorted or ignored by the Western media on the grounds that they are marginal and insignificant from a Western standpoint, even though these issues are a priority for Arabs and Muslims. Future plans for the Al Jazeera Group are very optimistic: they include products such as Al Jazeera Urdu - an Urdu language channel to cater mainly to South Asians - a music channel and an international newspaper.

Al Jazeera channels have been launched at a time when the role of mass media in a globalized world is a hot topic and competition among broadcasters is strong. It is an "information warfare" that is marked by a proliferation of technology and a fast flow of information from all over the world.

Regional ideas and media strengths are growing across the globe. Al Jazeera English is now directly competing with BBC World and CNN International, as well as with a growing number of other international broadcasters such as France 24 (launched shortly after Al Jazeera English in December 2006), Russia Today and others. Even BBC has unveiled plans for an Arabic-language television news service, slated for launch this year.

So, what will be the future for satellite broadcasters like Al Jazeera?

Open and democratic channels like Al Jazeera/Al Jazeera English, which can contribute to bridge the philosophical gap between the West and the Middle East, should be fostered and encouraged by the West. Rather than view the impact of the channels in terms of single moments of change, or pin great hopes for revolutionary change on their broadcasts, we should focus on these deeper, less obvious but more profound ways in which the Al Jazeeras are refashioning the political terrain.

Expectations that satellite television alone can bring about transformations should not be exaggerated, but simply kept in mind.

SILVIA GAIANI is a freelance journalist and researcher in international cooperation at The University of Bologna, Italy. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it