As we reported last week, while AJE is carried in some small markets (and on satellite) here in the U.S., most cable operators don’t seem to be eager to carry the network. Now, AJE is pushing back.

The age of the image is upon us and the clock cannot be turned back. And yet the Mubarak regime is in denial. It started with muffling the voice of al-Jazeera. I was fortunate to be in Cairo during the first two days of the current uprising. On January 25 and 26, when the roads around me were starting to be blocked, when sirens and loud speakers could be heard in the areas surrounding Tahrir Square, and when both the police and protesters were mobilizing in larger numbers than ever before, I was struck by the inattention that al-Jazeera was giving the protest.

Gil Scott-Heron once sang that the revolution will not be televised. The Tunisian revolution, and the continuing Egyptian uprising, would seem to refute the great man’s chorus.

With armies of reporters from Al Jazeera and Alhurra and slews of other news media organizations covering the Middle East, one wonders how the seeds of anti-government sentiment in Egypt were not detected before streets were filled with protesters and now police violence and death.

With armies of reporters from Al Jazeera and Alhurra and slews of other news media organizations covering the Middle East, one wonders how the seeds of anti-government sentiment in Egypt were not detected before streets were filled with protesters and now police violence and death. Diplomats in Washington and other world capitals seem to have been similarly blindsided.

Al-Jazeera's broadcasting has been disrupted across the Arab region, said the Doha-based channel which has run round-the-clock coverage of the mass protests in Egypt for the past eight days.

As darkness fell on Tahrir Square the night of Feb. 1, a giant makeshift TV screen broadcast Al Jazeera's live coverage of the Egyptian uprising to the enthusiastic crowd.

As events in Egypt move forward, the United States has appeared to be a befuddled bystander, reacting slowly and with a muted voice that cannot be heard above the din of those demanding freedom.