"Much as I despise Al Jazeera, it's one of the few media outlets in the Arab world that's not state-controlled. "
Al Jazeera is totally state controlled - and funded.
Al Jazeera recieves both public funds and funds from the state of Qatar. It's like NPR, PBS or the BBC. Like those it tends to represent the interests of the EU globalist types. It really doesn't represent the interest of the Qatar goverment.
This is accomplished most likely because Al Jazeera does have a seperate board of directors from the Qatar government.