Andrew Stroehlein, the director of media and information at the International Crisis Group [3], reflects on why the English language version of Al Jazeera [4]'s television news operation "remains unavailable to most Americans." The quality of reporting from what is perhaps the best-funded television news network, he argues, is not the problem. "The hurdle for some [cable companies] is a lingering fear of a public relations backlash -- that some customers might get agitated by their cable company offering a channel whose sister station in Arabic has a reputation for being anti-American," he writes. However, he points out that key administration officials and former White House press secretary, Tony Snow [5], have given interviews to the station. "If it is worthwhile enough for them to spend their time giving interviews to Al Jazeera English, no one could seriously argue that the American public should not watch it," he writes.