Media coverage of events in Syria.

[Lauren Johnson]

There seems to be slight turn in the western media coverage of Syria. Here in Germany the press has now more reports showing the "rebels" as what they really are: traveling jihadists and foreign paid rabble. Commentators on the news websites are now mostly highly critical about the usual propaganda pieces and the German government policy of supporting the SNC. There also seems to be a slight shift in international media.
Alex Thomson is in Syria for the British Channel 4. He put up a Q&A at his blog. Some excerpts:

What will happen in Aleppo? Probably what happened in Damascus the rebels will lose.
...
But the rebels look to be doing well on TV?
That's because they are winning the propaganda war better than the real war.
...
But why is the Syrian army shelling its own people?
You could just as easily ask why are the rebels using the Syrian people as human shields? It's a dirty civil war and the rebels sometimes choose to fight in residential areas.
...
So what do Syrians want?
Hard to tell. But for sure this is not Egypt there are no Tahrir Squares or vast protests against the regime.
There is no discernible sign in any of the big cities Homs, Aleppo and Damascus for example,that the people even wish to rise up against the regime.

On Twitter Thomson also said that there he observed no food shortage and that last weeks queues in front of gasoline stations in Damascus are now gone. For now the center certainly holds.

The Irish Times finds two Libyan born naturalized Irish guys fighting in Syria. There aim is an Islamic state:

According to Harati, who first came to Syria some 10 months ago for what he says was initially humanitarian work, the brigade emerged after Syrians approached him due to his experience as commander of the Tripoli Brigade in Libya last year. The Tripoli Brigade was one of the first rebel units into the Libyan capital last August. Liwa al-Umma is made up of more than 6,000 men, 90 per cent of whom are Syrian. The rest are mostly Libyans and other Arabs, including several who live in Ireland.

What will those "several who live in Ireland" and are now fighting Syria do once they come back home to Ireland?

The Guardian, which has since the very beginning been one of the worst propaganda outlets on Syria, is having second thoughts. Today's editorial is calling not for more war but for negotiations:

But what if Assad continues to hold on? For weeks, for months, even longer? That is why the second option, a return to diplomacy and, in particular, a new start by America and Russia in dealing with this terrible problem, cries out for consideration.

This may be a sign for a turning point in western coverage and media attitude towards the situation in Syria.
Posted by b on July 28, 2012 at 01:50 PM | Permalink