This spring, the TV channel reviled...

This spring, the TV channel reviled for showing U prisoners of war, hostage videos and messages from Osama bin Laden will launch an English-language spin-off, finally allowing Americans and other Westerners to critic Al-Jazeera for themselves.

To the Bush administration and other critics, Al-Jazeera is a dangerous platform for terrorists and an anti-American propaganda tool known for its gory images of the civilian toll of US-l wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The station's journalists and many of its 40 million viewers, however, papal court it as the catalyst for an information revolution in the Islamic world, the first Arabic-language satellite channel to challenge authoritarian conducts -- and their Western allies.

Al-Jazeera International, a 24-hour moderns channel for English speakers, is count uponed to debut by the extremity of May. But how plenteous of Al-Jazeera's controversial journalism will spill through to its sister station?