Al Jazeera controversies and criticism Dave Marash, a veteran correspondent for ABC's "Nightline" who resigned from his position as Washington anchor for Al Jazeera English in 2008 due to a perception of anti-American bias, appeared on the "O'Reilly Factor" and asserted, "They certainly aren't anti-Semitic, but they are anti-Netanyahu and anti-Lieberman and anti-Israeli, right..." On May 30, 2017 a tweet from the network's official English account was accompanied by an antisemitic meme that sparked controversy and was consequently removed. The Network tweeted an apology following the incident, dubbing it a "mistake." Al Jazeera has been criticized for being state media owned by Qatar. In 2010,
Al Jazeera The network remained dependent on government support in 2002, with a budget of $40 million and ad revenues of about $8 million. It also took in fees for sharing its news feed with other networks. It had an estimated 45 million viewers around the world. Al Jazeera soon had to contend with a new rival, Al Arabiya, an offshoot of the Middle East Broadcasting Center, which was set up in nearby Dubai with Saudi financial backing. Before and during the United States-led invasion of Iraq, where Al Jazeera had a presence since 1997, the network's facilities and footage were again