The pursuit of objective coverage has always been a cornerstone of the ideals of journalistic endeavor. Schools of journalism have consistently enshrined and standardized objectivity as the prime responsibility of a responsible reporter. Scholars in mass communication have also grappled with this concept for decades, articulating it in multiple contexts …

An excerpt from the book "Al-Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East," by Mohammed El-Nawawy and Adel Iskandar. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2002. Thanks to Westview Press and the authors for permission to publish this excerpt. "Has the American media slogan become: 'No voice is louder than …