In its first years, Al Jazeera was simultaneously hailed as a pioneering media outlet for reform in the Arab world and as an instigator of internal conflict and strife. Almost every Arab ruler at one time or another attempted to silence the station by closing its local bureau and pressing the Qatari rulers to muzzle its freewheeling journalists.
在它的创办年份里，半岛电视台同时还被誉为阿拉伯世界改革的锐意进取的媒体，也是内部冲突和斗争的鼓动者。几乎每个阿拉伯统治者都在某些时候试图通过关闭其当地分社并且迫使卡塔尔统治者钳制其直言无悔的记者来让这一电视台默不作声，但是都没有成功。实际上，这些压力只增加了电视台在阿拉伯观众中的受欢迎程度。