Update: April 22, 2011. After massive shootings of 70++ demonstrators today, Syria Live is back to being truly live on Aljazeera. Syrian PM Assad and the Syrian government warned that demonstrations would be subject to arms fire – and did it. This is a Rubicon crossing. Tribal influences may be coming into play – see Aljazeera.
Alajazeera has been ye Editor’s go to site on the Arab Unrest. Tunisia , Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya – Aljazeera’s English website has been the most current and complete in reports and videos all this year. Until the past few days. Coverage of Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria have all taken a puzzling downturn. Take the Syria report for today, April 20. The Syria Live Blog is typical. It says the Live stories are for April 19th but when you go to the page – nothing past April 18th gets shown.
Meanwhile report from Libya are current and the Libya Live Blog is that. What has happened? Some say the closeness of Syria to to Aljazeera’s Doha Qatar headquarters are a factor. Others suggest that Aljazeera state sponsors have influenced its coverage. All this viewer knows is that it is back to the BBC for the most current but not necessarily complete coverage of events in Syria.