Aljazeera and the Qatari-Saudi conflict

The secret of the emergence of Aljazeera was not only in novelty and originality and pioneering effort: it lies in the Saudi-Qatari conflict with raged when Aljazeera first emerged.  The Saudi-Qatari conflict was the best thing that ever happened to Aljazeera and served its early years because it expanded its horizons and its scope of criticisms.  The decline of Aljazeera began when the Saudi royals made up with the Qatari royals.  That severely narrowed the limitations of speech.  I have heard many complaints from hosts of Aljazeera about the terrible impact of the Saudi-Qatari reconciliation on their coverage and programming.  Now what happened recently is worse: the Saudi-Qatari reconciliation was transformed into a solid alliance (although the royal families of both countries hate one another).   So the limits on freedoms of expressions are now severe and only criticisms of countries that are not on good terms with Saudi royals would be allowed.  But of course the absence of the competition and the quality of the competition (think of the lousy news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law, Al-Arabiyyah) will translate into commercial but not political success for Aljazeera.