Al Jazeera scores another victory in the information war

Now that Gaddafi has been killed, which television station will the world turn to? I suspect that, right now, Al Jazeera will be on in No.10 and the White House, and indeed television sets across Asia and India. At a time when the BBC is retreating from global news, its Doha-based rival is expanding — and this has harsh implications. The Arab Spring demonstrated the importance of media to world affairs, and the Americans are mindful that they’re losing this battle. The America-style television news formula — celebrity newscasters and short packages rather thin on analysis — go down badly outside America. ‘We are in an information war and we are losing,’ Hillary Clinton warned the Senate foreign relations committee in March. ‘Al Jazeera is winning.’ 
 
The BBC has traditionally fared better. But the BBC has come under fierce competition from Al Jazeera — and rather than respond, it’s caving in and going home.