Few phenomena in the Arab world are more controversial than Al Jazeera – the satellite television news channel that, despite its brief history, has made itself known throughout the world and changed the face of a formerly parochial Arab media.

This timely collection of essays by Arab and Western scholars provides a better understanding of the network – and how it has affected the public and even foreign policies of Western governments – than any other of the few books published in English up to now.

The book provides rare insights into Al Jazeera's politics, its agenda, its programmes, its coverage of regional crises, and its treatment of the West. The authors attempt to gauge the network's impact on ordinary Arab viewers, understand its effect on an increasingly visible Arab public sphere, and map out the role it plays in regional Arab politics. The image of Al Jazeera that emerges from this book is much more complex than its depiction in Western media. It reveals the role that the network plays in shaping ideas and reconstructing Arab identities during a crucial juncture in Middle Eastern history and politics.