Following a lull in the Israeli fighting against the people of Gaza, I asked various people in the region about their preferences for news and media outlets on the conflict.

Going by the 148 responses I received, Al Jazeera news network scores big, dwarfing all others. 72 percent of the respondents said that it was their channel of choice for news during the ongoing aggression. The remaining 28 percent chose a variety of other outlets to keep up with the developments.

The following are some of the comments that accompanied their responses:

From Rana in Dhahran: “I watched Al Jazeera all the way. It presented the events from all angles.”

Hasan from Jeddah added, “I do not think any news channel got it right while covering what was going on in Gaza, and if it did, they would not show it. They would be afraid to upset Israel. But Al Jazeera and BBC stood out among the best.”

Sultan from the UAE stated, “I preferred to go to several websites. I think it was more of a case of reporters than news organizations. First, Taghreed Al Khodary from NYT, then Aymen Mohiudeen from Al Jazeera English, then the BBC producer who remained inside the Gaza Strip during the war. There is too much politicking going on within news organizations, and pretty soon we’ll be looking at blog sites for info.

Maysoon, a Saudi intellectual indicated her choices as, “Al Jazeera, Al-Mannar, Sham TV, Syria TV, Al-Jadeed and Al-Hewar.”

Umm Omar from Riyadh wrote: “Al Jazeera in Arabic. They do amazing footage and compelling groundwork that allows us to see what’s happening sitting in our homes because they get up-close and personal. I also trust their reporting because they don’t try to hide the truth showing things as they really are.”

Mohammed, an airline employee, said, “I prefer to tune to Al Jazeera, Al-Manar and Al-Arabiya. The first two were reporting from Gaza and their reports did not contain the bias as in Al-Arabiya.”

Kirsten reports from Riyadh: “I hate watching the news, but when we do it’s usually Al Jazeera, either English or Arabic, and my husband tunes to LBC from Lebanon and also Al-Manar. We rarely tune onto CNN or BBC or Fox crap news. Just boosts your blood pressure for no reason.”

Ali from Los Angeles replied: “I would say the best English news channel would be Al Jazeera.”

Ismail, a retired engineer, wrote: “I normally go through BBC News, CNN and France24 to get a balanced shot and see what the world is saying. For local news I watch Al Jazeera. but it seems now the Internet provides a better means of finding the truth and other unbiased opinion.... of these Alternet is a good source on American and international affairs. An added advantage of the Internet is the interactivity provided which allows you to add your voice or opinions to the subject matter; I believe this feature should be utilized by us who want our side of the story out there.”

Carol, a former US diplomat: “I found it was necessary to watch multiple channels in order to get a full picture of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza. In my view, each station made it clear of their bias or leanings. The channels I tuned in to were as follows: CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and Al-Arabiya, and in order to get the Saudi perspective, I also watched both Saudi 1 and Saudi 2.”

Kamal had this to say: “I still do not trust any Arab media news channels. Nor do I trust many of the English news channels, especially the CNN when it comes to impartial reporting. However, Al-Arabiya is best of the worst.”

Muhanna, an enterprising CEO in Jeddah, said, “Actually I watched CNN most of the time after seeing the other media channels. CNN were totally biased in favor of Israel. The reason I watched it is to hear how in the hell they are going to explain this human slaughter, and I came to the conclusion that they were really biased. The reason I did not continue to watch Al Jazeera was that they were bringing actual pictures from Gaza that made me feel useless. It depressed me and made me wonder about the world we live in.”

And finally Muna from Oman who was emphatic about her preferences. “Forget CNN! Ever since they recruited their AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) card-carrying anchor Wolf Blitzer, that channel has been a Zionist organ with very slanted reporting on Middle East affairs. Israel can do no wrong, and CNN has rarely reported on the human side of the sufferings of Israel’s victims. Al-Arabiyya is no better. Sometimes I think they are competing with Al-Hurra, another of those biased networks that were promoting the Zionists and Bush’s agenda. For me it is and will always be Al Jazeera. Al-Manar would be a close second.”

If anything, it is gratifying to note that there are many media options available to the region from which to choose, which is not always the case in the US. And Al Jazeera appears to have won hands down.