Journalistic integrity alive and well and heading out the door at Al Jazeera

When was the last time you heard of an American journalist quitting their job because they felt their employer was interfering in their work?

It doesn't happen, at least not in the big leagues. CBS/Fox/CNN/ABC/NBC all want you to believe that they are bastions of objectivity and journalistic integrity. That's why their staff never quit their jobs. They are truth tellers working for the American news machine. What kind of bias could there be?

Over the past decade or so Qatar based Al Jazeera has elbowed its way into the big leagues of international journalism. They've gained a reputation for beating the American networks to the big stories, especially in the Middle East, and presenting the stories in a way that might get some noses out of joint in Washington but which is enormously popular in the rest of the world.

Al Jazeera was celebrated internationally for it's integrity and objectivity. The fact that W wanted to bomb their Baghdad offices during the Iraq war just enhanced their reputation.

Alas, that reputation took something of a hit during NATO's war on Libya last year. The Qatar government, sponsor of Al Jazeera, had been feuding with the Colonel for many years, mainly because of Gadaffi's repeated calls for the masses in the Gulf states to rise up and throw their unelected American-supported elite out of office.

The anti-Gadaffi bias in Al Jazeera's coverage of that war was obvious to anyone who followed it. No longer was Al Jazeera the unbiased voice observing a standard of integrity that the New York Times and the BBC could only dream about. Al Jazeera had joined the club.

Evidently the Qatari royal family who fund Al Jazeera are no fans of Syrian President Assad either. While they still coast along on the strength of a reputation made years ago, their actual coverage makes it clear that they have become the official propaganda outlet for the Free Syrian Army.

At the same time, the network has studiously avoided coverage of the uprising in Bahrain, another oil-rich pro-US sheikdom right next door to Qatar. This obvious bias in favor of Qatar's friends and against her perceived enemies has become too much for some of the staff at Al Jazeera's Beirut office. As of this week at least three high ranking staffers have quit their jobs in protest.

What a concept! Putting one's integrity before the security of a paycheck. That's something we don't see in America anymore.