Under his rule the Qatari government helped to fund the Al Jazeera news network by an emiri decree. In an analysis of Al Jazeera, Hugh Miles said that diplomats from other countries know that the Emir is the real power behind Al Jazeera but he also quotes a network spokesman denying 'countless times' this accusation, adding that many independent news sources also have subsidies from their respective governments without this implying editorial dabbling and explaining that trying to coerce the kind of journalists Al Jazeera has would be like trying to 'herd cats'. Sheik Hamad is a distant cousin of the network chairman, Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, who was previously Minister of Information in the Emir Al-Thani government. Following the initial US$137 million grant from Emir Al-Thani, Al Jazeera had aimed to become self-sufficient through advertising by 2001, but when this failed to occur, the Emir agreed to several consecutive loans on a year-by-year basis (US$30 million in 2004, according to Arnaud de Borchgrave). At a 3 October 2001 press conference, Colin Powell tried to persuade Sheik Hamad to shut down Al Jazeera while the New York-based organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting commented that in those efforts, "Powell and other U.S. officials were reportedly upset by the channel re-airing old interviews with bin Laden and the inclusion of guests that are too critical of the United States on its programs." "The Washington Post" reported in 2005 that Sheik Hamad was under pressure to privatize the network.