The great value of the impersonal, observational technique Ms. Noujaim employs is that it immerses the viewer in the contingency and complexity of events as they happen, notes A. O. Scott in a review for New York Times. “Whatever your opinions about the war, the conduct of the journalists who covered it and the role of Al Jazeera in that coverage, you are likely to emerge from ”Control Room” touched, exhilarated and a little off-balance, with your certainties scrambled and your assumptions shaken. All of which makes it an indispensable example of the inquisitive, self-questioning democratic spirit that is its deep and vexed subject.”

A major strength of ”Control Room,” is being attuned to the paradoxes and predicaments, as well as the dangers, its journalists face.

The documentary clearly observes that most of those who appear in the film cling to a journalistic ethic of objectivity and fairness, trying to navigate between their political allegiances and the code of their craft.