Media coverage of the Syrian civil war

Main article: 2011–2012 Syrian uprising

Addounia TV is an asset for Syrian media due to its role in uncovering the lies of different TV channels, like Al Jazeera, BBC, France 24 and Al Arabiyah in the so called Syrian Uprising.

Since the start of the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising, the Syrian media attacked channels like Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC and France24 and alleged that sews together a great plan that most of the Syrian government and harm Syria's stability and internal peace. This, combined with Syria to not let in any journalists to monitor what is happening has created a media war and below the horizon at what has happened.

March 22: The news from local TV channel showed images from Daraa that "confirmed" no demonstrations were ongoing. Ahmad al-Sayasneh, Imam of the Al-Omari mosque in Daraa was interviewed also. TV channel denied that the security police have stormed the Al-Omari mosque. Al Jazeera showed a video that disproved the Syrian local TV channel's claims, in which security police clearly storm into Al-Omari mosque.

March 25: Syrian news channel showed pictures of protesters who claimed to be outside Al Jazeera's offices in Damascus to protest against the channel "is not honest".

March 28: Syrian news channel Al Arabiya attacked and claimed that the video they showed, as would be from Latakia is really from Tripoli in Libya. They even went a step further by showing how to look at the video on YouTube, but video is not the same. Syrian news channel showed a clip from the alleged demonstrations in Damascus and said that the clips are false and that the same people who filmed from different angles.

March 29: Syrian news channel attacked the BBC and claimed that they listen to the lies of false witnesses.

March 30: After President Bashar al-Assad's speech, he was attacked by a woman in live broadcast, creating instant chaos. Syrian local television channel broadcast breaked immediately.

April 2: Syrian television showed what was called the "proof" that the images on the demonstrations that were shown on Al Jazeera are false and fabricated.

April 7: Syrian television showed "exclusive pictures" of armed men who fired on demonstrators in Daraa from the far distance with simple guns and then shot them against the cameraman.

April 8: In a report from the Syrian news channel claimed that the Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan is one of the main masterminds behind the ongoing terrorist groups in Syria. The channel also mentioned that people have misunderstood the fatwa by Yusuf al-Qaradawi has given.

April 11: Syrian television showed pictures of dead and wounded and claimed that there are security officers who have been fired upon by terrorist groups. Footage seems to be false, because policemen are not allowed to keep beards, uniforms that was shown were brand new ironed and shoes were new and shiny. In a report that Syrian television did, showed a three people were said to belong to extremist terrorist groups, one of which, Anas al-Rashad Kanja, alleged that he was the leader of an extremist group he started 10 April, i.e. three days before the interview. The operation was said to be funded by Jamal al-Jarrah from Movement of the Future in Lebanon, something that al-Jarrah denied and called for the silly statement from the Syrian media. Two other members were also interviewed, one was named Mohamed Ahmed al-Sekhneh. Confusingly, the name of the third member was changed five times in the various clips, sometimes even from the same person; first Badr Hatem al-Kalam, then Mohamed Badr Badr Mohamed and finally, Badr al-Kalam. In the three confessions were completely different versions, the target of the operation varied between the different members, Anas said that they would attack with weapons, Badr they would explode the police station and Ahmed said that Anas would attack the police station without weapons. Some said that the weapons existed and said that it was heading, type of weapons, etc. revealed that the confessions did not quite match.

April 14: Syrian news channel claimed that channels Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC and France24 are part of an operation of which main goal is to overthrow the peace and stability in Syria.

April 15: Syrian local TV station interviewed police officer Abdul Monem Al-Fares, which have been "heavily beaten by 10 people". Al-Fares said that the TV channel BBC forced him to "admit that he has demonstrated together with the channel against the state". Al-Fares, who claimed that he has been knocked down hardly and unable to move, looked in the interview very healthy and has not a single bruise on his body. Syrian news channel showed a clip where the reporter from channel Al Jazeera wanted to clarify a clip as previously shown on the demonstrations in Yemen, where the information was not entirely correct. This utilized Syrian news channel, claiming that Al Jazeera has continually shown false information regarding the Syrian protests.

April 16: In an interview with Syrian television, an injured security police from Baniyas claimed that he initially did not see anything because the trees were many and they saw nothing. After the clip is broken and the man then went on to contradict himself by saying that he looked very sophisticated weapons that were huge.

April 18: Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmad Bader Hassoun appears on various TV channels where he in a speech in Al-Sanamyn openly criticized those who have murdered civilians, which is interpreted to mean that he has changed sides. The day after Hassoun was shown on Syrian television, where he explains what he said and that he will always be loyal to President al-Assad.

April 19: Syrian TV showed an interview with a person who claimed to be Sheikh Mahmoud al-Dalati, imam of Omar ibn Al-Khattab mosque in Homs. This was denied in a video clip of the real imam. It turned out later that the recording site, as claimed to be in the mosque, has been used in several other interviews.

April 21: Syrian TV showed a clip from a report about demonstrations in Baniyas that Al Arabiya did, where Syrian TV claimed that Al Arabiya has cut the number of demonstration plates, one flying by itself and the second is edited and pasted, placed by Al Arabiya, or even borrowed from demonstrations in another Arab country. The original video that was shown on Al Arabiya showed clearly that both statements are incorrect. Syrian TV showed a clip from Khalid ibn al-Walid mosque in Homs that has been sabotaged. It was alleged that they did not know who was behind the sabotage, although a surveillance camera is clearly visible over the alleged broken front door.

April 22: Syrian television claimed that the video that Al Arabiya showed where the security police chasing protesters are from Bahrain and not Homs. The original clip that was shown by Al Arabiya was edited and cut by the Syrian TV. In the original clip can be heard clearly how they chased protesters shouting at the local dialect of Homs, Syria.

April 24: Yasser Alwan al-Mahameed, an activist from Daraa talked openly how he, after his meeting with president Bashar al-Assad, was carried by of Syrian security police to General Organization of Radio and Television in Damascus where he was forced to tell a fictional story for the benefit of the regime, something he refused. Al-Mahameed said he only told the truth and what really happened, only to the president and then to the local television channels.

April 25: Syrian news channel broke his mission to provide clarification where it attacked the Al Jazeera and called them "geniuses by the media and clowns of journalism" after they sent demos from Damascus by the Syrian news channel claimed were false. Dozens of people called by Syrian TV that does not watch Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC and other similar channels to disseminate false information about fake protesters who, with intent to damage the stability of Syria". 17-year-old Ahmed Abdallah from Deir ez-Zor were shown on Syrian television in a heavily edited interview where he said he got in 1500 Syrian pounds (30 USD) to demonstrate.

April 26: Hasan Hasan from Masyaf, Hama called the local TV channel and told in a poem that al-Ba'ath is his religion and that al-Assad is his God. TV host paused the conversation and tried to explain to viewers that it is OK to say so in poems "for example, if you love a girl so you can say that you worship her". Syrian TV showed soldier Omar Owejan from Golan to confirm that he is still alive and not killed by Security forces as Al Arabiya claimed, according to Syrian TV channel. A police officer from Damascus said he has been beaten because he was wearing a uniform in the street. In the video it is clearly visible that he is not wearing any uniform.

April 29: Al Jazeera's employees were attacked by some who claimed to be plainclothes police officers and thus closed their offices in Syria. The Syrian television showed the celebration of people who stood outside the Al Jazeera's offices in Damascus and celebrated the closure.

Internet activists

Facebook

As in the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, the Internet is playing a major role in the organization and coverage of the protests. The largest Facebook page in support of the Syrian uprising, called "The Syrian Revolution 2011", has more than 383,000 followers. The page which, was co-founded by Fida al-Sayed, reports on news related to the uprising and provides general guidelines for the protests. Every Friday, the page suggests a new name for the demonstrators in Syria.Template:Http://www.facebook.com/Syrian.Revolution

Mobiles

Since international news media was banned in Syria, the main source of information has been private videos usually taken by mobile phone cameras and uploaded to YouTube. Such videos are difficult to verify independently, and several TV stations have shown older footage from Iraq and Lebanon, which was claimed to have been filmed in Syria.

Websites

To add credibility to the videos, protestors often explicitly mention the date and location of the scene. Sometimes current newspaper issues are also shown. The largest collection of these videos is found on OnSyria, which currently has more than 200,000 videos.

See also

• Media in Syria

External links

• The Reality of Events ongoing coverage at SANA (Miistry of Information)
• DayPress News