American-based news services are only now catching up with the coverage of the Egyptian rising provided by Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera America has been trying for some time for inclusion in one of the major cable networks but with almost no success. American audiences who want to view it must look at the Al Jazeera English program on line.

Two articles appearing in Salon give a good overview of what kind of news service Al Jazeera is.

The first, “Why Can’t We All Watch Al Jazeera” was written by Julia Dahl and was first published, at Guernica, in 2008. It gives a good picture of AJ’s rocky road toward acceptance as a legitimate news agency. The piece is long, but well worth the effort. (click)

The second article, “Al Jazeera’s Egypt Coverage Embarrasses U.S. Cable News Coverage” is by Alex Pareene and also appears in Salon.

The piece is a good deal more snarky than Dahl’s…but it does give some idea of the differences in coverage during the onset of the uprising. (click)