What went wrong with al-Jazeera – and how can it be fixed?

Exactly five years ago, the world was captivated by the sight of millions of Egyptians ousting a tyrant after decades of ironfisted rule.

The world watched all this through acclaimed and garlanded coverage on al-Jazeera, in what was billed as a “breakthrough” moment for the network worldwide. The protesters in Tahrir Square watched themselves on the network’s Arabic service, erecting impromptu cinema screens using sheets of white cloth.

Al-Jazeera was the first outlet in the region that crossed borders, told the stories of ordinary people, and asked awkward questions of its rulers. The attitude made it a broadcasting phenomenon and, despite the later appearance of many competitors, the region’s most-watched news channel.

The network’s management had differing approaches to the revolution. Some of the old-fashioned news hacks said their job was simply to cover the events, not to encourage them.

It may be though, as Orwell said, that telling the truth in a time of universal deceit was a revolutionary act. Others, such as the director general at the time, Wadah Khanfar, took to TED to declare “the [democratic] future we were dreaming of has arrived”.

Fast forward five years, and the revolutions have been in crisis for quite some time. Al-Jazeera’s fortunes, which rose with it, have fallen too. The future arrived but wasn’t what we had dreamed of during the initial euphoria of the overthrows.

Al-Jazeera has been blamed in many quarters of the Middle East for the carnage and chaos that has followed. Those critics do not see instability as the inevitable bitter harvest of tyranny. They think dictators can rule forever and that the dreams and spirit we saw in 2011 can somehow be permanently subdued – if everyone simply accepted corruption and despotism, everything would be fine.