If you look to the right column and a little further down on this page, you’ll noticed that I’ve got Al Jazeera English linked. And I don’t link anything here that I don’t find useful and/or read regularly. I’ve found it to be a good source of information and perspective, not just on issues important to the Middle East, but globally. For the most part, it’s been really top quality stuff, and I recommend it for regular reading/viewing. So it’s with that background that I found this interview with Dave Marash so interesting.  Dave Marash, a former ABC correspondent (and occasional Nightline host) joined Al Jazeera English as an anchorman in 2006. He recently left, and explains why in this interview with the Columbia Journalism Review:
[O]ver the first two years of the channel’s existence, I have made myself effectively the American face of the channel and vouched for its credibility and value. And over the last seventeen months there have been several changes at the channel which put things on the air that, frankly, I could not vouch for. If I had just been another employee I might have just dropped my head and let it all wash over, because it is the nature of our business that every place you work occasionally does things that embarrass you. But I felt an extra measure of responsibility.
He goes on to explain that he feels like the channel has retracted into being more of a regional voice, perhaps as a result of pressures to counterbalance the influence of the US. If you’re like me, and you make a serious effort to draw your news from places with different perspectives, I think you’ll find it a fascinating (but short) read.