It&#x27;s not the funding. It&#x27;s the editorial independence that matters. Should we have believed NBC prior to 2013 on national security issues, because they were owned by General Electric, a defense contractor that would make handsome profits in the case of war?<p>Good luck in finding any media outlet that doesn&#x27;t have financial ties to the subjects of their coverage.<p>You shouldn&#x27;t dismiss Al Jazeera out of hand. The (sad) fact is, that Al Jazeera is pretty much the least biased on most straight forward of all the media outlets in the Middle East. They actually report dissenting views. No, they&#x27;re not perfect, but are in a completely different league compared to their regional rivals.