Hillary Praises Al-Jazeera

It used to be that Al-Jazeera, the news organization based in Qatar, was viewed as a mouthpiece of extremist Arab governments bent on attacks against the United States and Israel. But no more, Politico reports.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton extolled Al-Jazeera for “real news” in recent Senate testimony.

“They are a really important media entity, and we have a really great relationship with them,” says Dana Shell Smith, deputy assistant secretary of State for international media engagement, who speaks Arabic and has frequently appeared on the channel.

“This administration has empowered those of us who actually do the communicating to be in a close relationship with Al-Jazeera. They understand that the relationship can’t consist of complaining to each other about the differences we have.”