During the uprising in Egypt, which began January 25, 2010, Al Jazeera English (AJE) emerged as the leading English language outlet for news. It served as a central source for English language publics and media to absorb information and analysis. Even as the Mubarak government and its affiliates blocked the internet and undertook coercive campaigns against journalists, AJE functioned as a communications node for Egyptian activists to reach western audiences, especially activists and public sphere participants who put pressure on their governments. This effectively undermined the strategic narrative being forwarded by the Egyptian government and helped constrain the allied governments, in particular the United States. The reason for AJE’s success was its proximity to activists on the ground, and the network’s willingness to retransmit their “citizen journalism,” calling on notions of “networked journalism.” Using mobile phone lines, flip cameras, videos uploaded to YouTube and social media content (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) that made it past the Egyptian information blockade, AJE became the primary conduit for Egyptian activists to spread their messages and counter-propaganda campaigns. The relationship with activists was facilitated by AJE’s correspondents and staff of Egyptian descent and its longer and deeper pre-existing newsgathering presence there. It also was well-versed in circumventing state repression. These were advantages no other English language global news media enjoyed. While AJE’s management disavows serving as an advocate and maintains an official commitment to traditional journalism norms, the paper argues AJE served a role as a node in an informal transnational advocacy network. Constructivist theorists of international relations consider transnational advocacy networks as potential counterweights to state power in the information age. State-media relations no longer tilt clearly in the direction of states. This paper contends that new and social media as they pertain to social movements, must be contextualized within multi-media networks and increasingly complex media environments. Social media, in short, interact with old media and activists’ strategies (including traditional coalition-building), and are therefore instrumental tools but not mono-causal drivers of change. Traditional forms of mass media are still important for activism aimed at shifting public opinion, but the Egyptian popular movement for reform thrived on the communicative interaction between old and new media. Methods used: interviews, discourse analysis, content analysis.