Al Jazeera
Ranked 6 of 16 news outlets by recommenders
Recommended for informative regional coverage, varied expert guests and a broad perspective alongside other outlets. Caveat: critics say it is biased, especially on political events and editorials.
Recommended for informative regional coverage, varied expert guests and a broad perspective alongside other outlets. Caveat: critics say it is biased, especially on political events and editorials.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 13
- approval share
- 57%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Informative regional coverage, especially the Middle East
“Their reporting is fine, and I typically find it more informative than the US news sources.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire” “I've found Al Jazeera's (English) coverage of the region to be informative.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire” “Al Jazeera has some very good insights into this”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Anthropic CEO calls OpenAI's messaging around military deal 'straight up lies'” Useful part of a multi-source news diet
“reading them all or reading about the same subjects from these different outlets really gives you a larger political perspective”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “Third Drone Shot Down in Three Days in Romanian Territory” “my main news sources are an amalgam of Reuters, BBC World Service, Al Jazeera English”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What are your go to sources for relatively unbiased global news?” “I do seek out Al-Jazeera too”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Disrupting a new covert influence campaign from Russia”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Called Qatari state propaganda
“a Qatari propaganda site with a well documented history of employing members of terrorist organizations”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Iran oil revenue soars as it's the only exporter out of Hormuz” “a project of the Al Thani royal family whose chief aim is to exacerbate the external conflict”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Israel used weapons in Gaza that made Palestinians evaporate” “Other outlets repeating it - Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, etc - are all propaganda outlets”
Comment from 28 Mar 2026 in “Gaza toddler released from Israeli custody with 'cigarette burn' wounds” - Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “The US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why”
- Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “France's aircraft carrier located in real time by Le Monde through fitness app”
- Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Israel used weapons in Gaza that made Palestinians evaporate”
- Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Symbolic Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight amid 'catastrophic risks'”
Biased coverage, especially on politics
“It is biased - interestingly less than expected on this topic because Iran is shelling them”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Iran war wreaking havoc on shipping and air cargo, could create global delays” “Each one has its own blatant biases and blind spots.”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “Third Drone Shot Down in Three Days in Romanian Territory” “Al Jazeera seems interested in reporting, and their biases are pretty easy to understand and work around.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Apple in early talks to assemble and package iPhone chips in India” - Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “Iran oil revenue soars as it's the only exporter out of Hormuz”
Other news outlets people recommend
The four most recommended other news outlets, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN Lite | 34 | 54 | 39% | 12 | — | — |
| The Guardian | 33 | 44 | 43% | 12 | — | — |
| Ars Technica | 32 | 62 | 34% | 9 | 16 yrs6 owners | — |
| text.npr.org | 23 | 1 | 96% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Al JazeeraThis page | 17 | 13 | 57% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
34 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I would recommend you and others do the same.”
“This Al Jazeera article is much less informative than this one”
“I do seek out Al-Jazeera too”
“A lot of refreshing Al Jazeera”
“BBC, CNN, and al jazeera are complete trash.”
“will get a casual reader to a decent spot”
“reading them all or reading about the same subjects from these different outlets really gives you a larger political perspective”
“Each one has its own blatant biases and blind spots.”
“Al Jazeera does invite a lot of experts with opposing viewpoints”
“Mint from India and Al Jazeera from Qatar seem closest to neutral of the pack, even if not that great”
“They lost their independence long ago.”
“It wasn't meant as an endorsement of their editorial or news-gathering quality.”
“Al Jazeera is generally reliable for news, with caution advised for coverage of highly-political events and editorials”
“Their reporting is fine, and I typically find it more informative than the US news sources.”
“I've found Al Jazeera's (English) coverage of the region to be informative.”
“they are well known for highly biased articles”
“They certainly seem to be doing better than most of the corporate US media by my estimate.”
“they hijack your freaking PageDn and PageUp keys”
“a Qatari propaganda site with a well documented history of employing members of terrorist organizations”
“Other outlets repeating it - Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, etc - are all propaganda outlets”
“their favor is just slightly more favorable than Al Jazeera's”
“Al Jazeera is primarily funded by the government of Qatar”
“Qatar's propaganda wire of Al Jazeera switches so easily from anti-Israel to pro-Israel”
“they tend to open the window where our media stay silent”
“Al Jazeera has some very good insights into this”
“It is biased - interestingly less than expected on this topic because Iran is shelling them”
“the easy recommendation is Al Jazeera”
“my main news sources are an amalgam of Reuters, BBC World Service, Al Jazeera English”
“qatari propaganda garbage”
“a project of the Al Thani royal family whose chief aim is to exacerbate the external conflict”
“their news network acts as it defacto propaganda arm”
“Al Jazeera is an islamist propagandic outlet”
“Al Jazeera seems interested in reporting, and their biases are pretty easy to understand and work around.”
“Al Jazeera has been super loud and vocal about how US aggressions towards Venezuela is all about oil.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.