Assad's propaganda

The Syrian state media is engaged in a no-holds barred propaganda campaign, described here by this rare report from inside Syria by a foreigner. It reminds me of the insanity on Egyptian TV during the 18 days of the revolution. From the Beast:

The protests in Syria have caused the world's media to focus on this autocratic state and its brutal response to the latest development in the Arab Spring. Foreign journalists are not being allowed into Syria. As a result, conspicuously lacking from international coverage is the response of Syrians themselves to the protests. And key in understanding this response is the "media war" that the Syrian regime has openly declared.

The extent of distortion and disinformation, of efforts to control Syrians' opinions, is mind-boggling, and terrifying. Here is a brief sample:

• Armed terrorist groups are trying to destabilize Syria. Televised confessions and discoveries of weapons caches prove this.
• Syrian citizens welcome the arrival of the army into their cities to protect them from these armed groups. Scenes of women throwing flowers over advancing tanks prove this.
• Foreign satellite news channels—Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and BBC Arabic chief among them—are involved in deception and distortion in order to destabilize Syria. Detailed "refutations" of their reports prove this.
• Under the pretense of democracy promotion, the United States is providing funds to groups whose aim is in fact to spread discord. A montage of bombardments from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, along with footage of maimed children and women, proves this. The clip finishes with the words 'Made in the USA' filling the screen.
• On Fridays, the day on which the biggest protests have traditionally happened, looping scenes of "calm and peace and stability" in Syria's cities are broadcast.
• And now, ringing condemnations of the Israelis' use of force against peaceful demonstrators in the occupied Golan Heights—presented without a shred of irony—eclipse all else in the Syrian news.

 "It makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. I simply can't watch it," says Mona, a Ph.D. student at Aleppo University, who participated in an anti-regime protest on Eid al-Jelaa, Syria's independence day, last month.

Comments

[Bernie]

Obviously the Israelis and the Salafists are working hand-in-hand on this one *cough* right?

It's always saddening to see such blatant lies propagated. To a certain extent, the propaganda campaign is somewhat effective within Syria, especially when it comes to tarnishing the image of Arabic satellite news channels. Outside of the hard-core régime supporters and hard-core régime haters, a large number of Syrians are suspicious of both Syrian State TV (and private channels which are close to the state such as al-Dunya), as well as Aljazeera and al-Arabiya etc. From what I've seen in Aleppo talking with people is that most of them think the truth is somewhere between the two camps (as though the truth is the average of what everyone says it is).

But we shouldn't overestimate the power of the state media, because at the end of the day in a totalitarian system it matters relatively little what people believe, since the government has a stick over their heads and can control what they do. You know, I always resent the comparison that people always make to the 1982 incident in Hama. There are many, many differences between then and now. One such difference is that people have access to outside sources of information nowadays. People have satellite TV channels and the internet etc. so the country can't be totally cut off like it could back then.

While the Orwellian metaphor has been applied to the propaganda itself, it also could equally be applied to the ways in which people digest such propaganda. Humans have a truly incredible ability to engage in "doublethink" and self-deception, when survival is on the line. Truth becomes irrelevant when it's a life-or-death situation. This should not be surprising. The thing that surprises me—in fact it utterly astounds and amazes me—is when some people break out of the paradigm of deception and take a stand for truth, knowing full well that they will be universally despised and demonized, may be tortured and may well even be killed. Their courage is simply awe-inspiring.

[Slovakistan]

Great find. The use of social media as a democratic force has been overhyped, but using the internet to promote good old-fashioned journalism can be invaluable in situations where traditional media is being suppressed.

[murad]

Hey Mister, if anyone declared a media war, it is al-Jazeera and western media. If you did not realize it yet, things have been greatly exaggerated in Syria. The numbers of "civilians" being killed is so grossly inflated.

The fact that Syrian TV show, step-by-step, how YouTube videos, that are shown on BBC, al-Jazeera and other channels, are really fake DOES prove there is a campaign of incitement and misinformation. How can you ridicule that?

When Syrian TV shows armed criminal gangs firing at people and at soldiers, yes, it proves it too. What are you out of your mind? Stop being a douche. There are real armed and jihadist elements in the Syrian events today. Here is a youtube video that will give you a small taste of what our brave soldiers have to fight in order to give us our security: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGwcSgfRhI