 To many Americans, Al Jazeera is still associated with the Osama Bin Laden tapes, Middle Eastern ownership and anti-American protests. And no matter how stellar and award-winning its reporters and journalism, convincing potential U.S. viewers otherwise was always going to be tough. So when it came to launching the new, all-news Al Jazeera America, we knew we had to take a deeply strategic approach to communications and outreach. Given most U.S. media outlets would focus on the emotional aspects of the channel, those that would be most troubling to Americans, we positioned the launch of Al Jazeera America as a fact-based business story, a much-needed contribution to and investment in U.S. media and journalism at a time when other networks were cutting back. We also focused attention on the highly respected on-air talent that was being hired to reassure and educate audiences about the channel's unbiased, non-partisan reporting. Here's my thing. You don't have to love Al Jazeera. You don't even have to like them. But if you say they shouldn't be in American homes, there's something wrong with what you're thinking about this conversation. And we talked Al Jazeera America senior executives to cities where the channel was launching bureaus to develop relationships with officials, community groups and local media. We also ran studio tours for business and financial reporters at the channel's flagship studios in New York and Washington, D.C. The strategy was a huge success. The campaign generated more than 1,100 positive or neutral placements, one outlet saying the new network offers serious news with no partisan wrangling and no tabloid fare. Since the launch, viewership has climbed steadily and the channel was recently picked up for distribution by Time Warner Cable, now reaching almost half of all households across the U.S. In an Al Jazeera exclusive, there's more to it. Al Jazeera America.