Dirty War in Syria

By: Sirin Al Masri

GraphicbyAlejandraPinto/TheGazelle

Introduction: I have chosen to name my research with this name “Dirty War In Syria” for the unfortunate situation that we are living in and media coverage for it with the world situation for this problem. In my humble research paper I will discuss the role of media propaganda in the unethical way to promote onside ideas, and rouse the public opinion toward one problem and ignore the rest. I have chosen to talk about one topic stop for five years and still going on. In my topic I will speak about the role of media in revolutions, and civil war. Is the media was covering this topic ethically? What were the most unethical parts? Why it was not ethical? Who can media propaganda change the public opinion or lead it toward one side? Can we blame all the media sources and channels? I hope that I can cover these entire questions and try to deliver a massage on what is going on in Syria, and why the media chose to be unethical or is biased towards one side. News reports were indeed biased in favor of the rebels; featured information was obviously discriminating as events that favored only one narrative of the conflict found their way into news coverage. This is not, by far, a generalization of all news media outlets, as some local (albeit influential) news channels sided with the regime while some foreign media outlets remained more or less neutral- or as neutral as one can be in such circumstances.

Coverage of the Syrian Revolution: News media outlets were acting as propaganda machines rather than reporting on the events, another original assumption was that the media, being the sole source of information for what was happening on the ground, should have influenced the Content of academic production, which had to rely on it as a source. As there is an ethical theory called ((deontology is one of those kinds of normative theories regarding which choices are morally required, forbidden, or permitted. In other words, deontology falls within the domain of moral theories that guide and assess our choices of what we ought to do (deontic theories), in contrast to (aretaic [virtue] theories) that—fundamentally, at least—guide and assess what kind of person (in terms of character traits) we are and should be. And within that domain, deontologists—those who subscribe to deontological theories of morality—stand in opposition to consequentialists.)) (1)(Alexander & Moore, 2007) To describe more and to understand the nature of the psychological behavior that accrued on the last 5 years from all the media coverage on the Syrian Revelation. (“The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary”, George Orwell noted in his censored preface to his 1945 book Animal Farm. “Unpopular

ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban”. Orwell went onto explain “at any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it”. The corporate media’s ‘coverage’ of Syria adds a twist to Orwell’s dictum – inconvenient reports and facts do occasionally appear in respected newspapers and on popular news programmes but they are invariably ignored, decontextualised or not followed up on. Rather than informing the historical record, public opinion and government policy these snippets of essential information are effectively thrown down the memory hole.) (2)("The West

and Syria: the corporate media vs. reality", 2016)

The Situation in Syria went fare long and the harmful images that we are seeing everyday are the daily life event in Syria, The media rolls is to cover the facts and events neutrally, but is it ethically to allow this media trade on the Syrians? the media propaganda covering Syria crisis are not shamed from put and present the dirtiest images of the Syrian war. (War propaganda often demands the abandoning of ordinary reason and principle, and the Dirty War on Syria demonstrates this in abundance. A steady stream of atrocity stories – ‘barrel bombs’, chemical weapons, ‘industrial scale’ killings, dead babies – permeate the western news on Syria. These stories all have two things in common: they paint the Syrian President and the Syrian Army as monsters slaughtering civilians, including children; yet, when tracked back, all the stories come from utterly partisan sources. We are being deceived. Normal ethical notions of avoiding conflicts of interest, searching for independent evidence and disqualifying self-serving claims from belligerent parties have been ignored in much of the western debate. This toxic atmosphere invites further fabrications, repeated to credulous audiences, even when the lies used to justify previous invasions (e.g. of Iraq in 2003) and dirty wars (e.g. in Libya, 2011) are still relatively fresh in our minds. As in previous wars, the aim is to demonise the enemy, by use of repeated atrocity claims, and so mobilise popular support behind the war (Knightley 2001)) (3)("War Propaganda and

the Dirty War on Syria", 2016)

The media coverage of every conflict comes with its own set of problems and challenges. In Syria, foreign journalists would often enter the country for a few days, either on 7-10 day government official visas, or on a quick visit to the areas outside of government control in the north of the country. Some would enter for a longer period of time and stay for weeks to produce documentaries or longer form1. There were also short trips inside. Especially when the government lost control over areas in the north, journalists could spend a few hours travelling from Gaziantep or Hatay to towns just across the Syrian-Turkish border, like Azaz, just to get Syria’s byline. But even these short visits have become more and more difficult, and more and more dangerous since winter 2012 when the number of kidnappings dramatically increased.

Syrian Media since March 2011 The most recent phase started with the beginning of widespread protests in Syria in March 2011. The Syrian uprising changed forever the news landscape in Syria and the way citizens could obtain, share, and consume information. With limited access for trained journalists, foreign as well as local, to the sites of breaking news, local media activists and citizen journalists took on their own shoulders the responsibility for getting the information out. Many Syrians obtained their information by following these activists and media networks via social networks, since the traditional Syrian media of state-controlled TV and newspapers failed to deliver accurate information.

It was no surprise that state-run media outlets failed citizens in the delivery of accurate news, since this had been the case for decades. For many months after the outbreak of the protests, Syrian pro-government TV channels like Dunia TV chose to ignore the reality on the ground, instead choosing to broadcast morning shows dealing with such issues as how to lose weight, or what colours to wear this season, failing to mention the large street demonstrations against the government.

In their news bulletins, facts were either twisted or omitted. As one example among many, the news anchor of a bulletin broadcast on April 1, 2011, (4)("YouTube", 2016) acknowledged that there were demonstrations in Douma, a suburb of Damascus, but claimed that security forces had not opened fire at protesters. However, according to a Human Rights Watch release, security forces had indeed opened fire and at least eight people had been killed. (5)("YouTube", 2011)

((Given the current media context in Syria, there is little opportunity for the media to carry out its role as the ‘fourth estate’: stimulating public dialogue to hold the Government to account. Despite the small steps that have been taken on the back of the uprising, there is little opportunity for citizens to make their voices heard via the mainstream media. A look at Syria’s wider civil society reveals a similar picture)) (6)

((The Internet is a major topic for most young, urban people. However, its continued expansion in the Arab world is hampered by two factors: negative attitudes to web-based content in parts of society and in of cial circles, and enduring problems with connectivity. On the rest issue, there is widespread altering and site blocking by the Syrian authorities, often resulting in self-censorship amongst browsers and bloggers alike.)) (6)

CONCLUSION This dissertation has used the case study of the Syrian war, as a means of exploring the evolving relationship between professional and citizen journalists, and the media role, impact and ethics is such crisis, its very important role in reflecting the exact fact which should always be true and ethical.

Work Cited

(1) Alexander, L. & Moore, M. (2007). Deontological Ethics.Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved 13 June 2016, fromhttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/

(2) The West and Syria: the corporate media vs. reality. (2016).openDemocracy. Retrieved 13 June 2016, fromhttps://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/west-and-syria-corporate-media-vs-reality

(3) WarPropagandaand theDirtyWaronSyria. (2016).GlobalResearch.Retrieved 13 June 2016, from http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-propaganda-and-the-dirty-war-on-syria/5492175

(4) YouTube. (2016). Youtube.com. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhlE6ADqXOU

(5) YouTube. (2011).HumanRightsWatch.Retrieved13 June2016, fromhttp://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2011/04/05-4

(6) MAHATAKI. BBCMedia action (2016). Retrieved 13 June 2016, fromhttp://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/pdf/syria.pdf