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Usually a free press is the product of a free society. But we are a free press in an undemocratic society. We have become an example. Maybe our standards of journalism are obvious to an American journalist but these standards were completely absent in the Middle East. For example, we tackle questions about sexuality, religion, and corruption, all of which were taboo subjects. So to have a new channel trying to break down these taboos was difficult. Everyone was against us, because we were trying to transgress the norms of society. But as time has passed we feel that our viewers have become more aware. Before Al Jazeera, if you asked an average person in the Middle East what they thought of American values they would have said that Americans support the Israelis against the Palestinians. I think our average viewer will now say that is true, but only a part of the reality, and that America is other things as well, that there is a difference between the American government and the American people and their values.