From its base in Doha, Qatar, the network transmitted to Arab nations and Europe over satellite networks. As it grew more popular, the network slowly lengthened broadcast times. Then, in 1999, Al Jazeera made history by becoming the first Arab news network to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It hasn’t looked back.

Soon Al Jazeera began to cast a wider net, covering events in the US, East Asia, Latin America and Australia. By 2001 it had more than 50 correspondents in more than 30 countries and had signed deals to provide CNN with regional footage. Already monstrously successful with Arab audiences, a single event, a single man and a single scoop would bring its name to the world stage.

Following the events of September 11, all eyes were on Al Jazeera as it used the access it had developed over years of operating in Afghanistan to interview Osama bin Laden. It was the interview nobody else could have gotten. Subsequently, the network continued to broadcast well within otherwise off-limits Taliban-controlled areas during the war in Afghanistan. Al Jazeera’s Arab perspective on events drew criticism from the West as inflammatory and sensational, but Arab audiences tuned in by the millions. By the time the war in Iraq began in March 2003, Al Jazeera was probably the most identifiable Arabic brand in the world. So dazzling was the network’s rise that its news soon became the news. And during the last week of March (2003), following the launch of its English-language website, Al Jazeera was the most searched-for term on both Google and Lycos.

Today Al Jazeera’s audience has been estimated to be as high as 45 million. This number is surely growing by the day, but for different reasons than it once did. Initially, Al Jazeera’s loyal audience tuned in because they were interested in free speech and an independent press, a rare commodity at the time. Al Jazeera’s tangles with almost every nation in the Middle East over censorship further established its standing with its core audience. Now that its journalistic integrity has been established, Al Jazeera is capturing Arab viewers who feel ignored, insulted by and/or suspicious of Western news networks such as CNN. As far as Al Jazeera is concerned, every criticism or restriction lumped upon it by a US-government organization, news service or ally is the equivalent of free advertising for the brand. And while few Arabs are tuning out, Western viewers disenfranchised with their own nations’ coverage are beginning to tune in. Al Jazeera reports that over 160,000 US households have subscribed to its service.

As with any innovation, success breeds imitators. The existence of the many state-run Arab media networks has never been a concern to Al Jazeera, which now identifies its main competition as established news services such as CNN and the BBC. However, other networks are beginning to pop up hoping to capitalize on the Al Jazeera free-press template. In March 2003, Al-Arabia began broadcasting from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. More mollifying than its renowned competitor, Al-Arabia’s strategy seems to be to spend its way to recognition, using some of its US$ 300 million start-up investment to lure away Al Jazeera reporters. Additionally, a US group has plans to launch an Arabic service skewed heavily toward Western pop culture and programming. The impact of these broadcasts on Al Jazeera’s audience loyalty is yet to be seen.

For now, Al Jazeera’s biggest problem remains an age-old one: money. With the emir’s grant gone, the network has been forced to develop independent funding, a hugely daunting task given that the world’s largest advertisers are based in the West -- the target of much of the network and the audience’s indignation. Unwilling to censor itself for Western advertisers, Al Jazeera’s strategy is to change the mentality of businesses in the Middle East, showing them that, just as freedoms of the press have changed, so can relationships between businesses and their political considerations.

The true miracle of Al Jazeera can only be comprehended by understanding the environment of press censorship from which it was born. Just a decade ago, before Al Jazeera, Arab news services were a mishmash of highly censored state and religious mouthpieces. Subjects such as political dissention and certain aspects of Islam were solidly off limits. Al Jazeera identified what its audience needed and has stuck to it, resiliently delivering on its brand promise in the face of suppression, the very characteristics of a confident and powerful brand.

Abram D. Sauer, former columnist for The China Daily and co-founder of Chopstickfactory.com, lives in New York and welcomes freelance opportunities.