Western media ‘disappeared’ half the Syrian story

atthepub says:

06:06am | 01/07/11

What’s going on?

Gregg says:

08:23am | 01/07/11

Harry, a lot of people do realise that reporting on conflicts is not always accurate and that there may even be vested interests influencing it, take the fuzzy WMD photos and poor ol Colin Powell being giving the plum job by George to present them as an example.

There has just been a series on the ABC called the Baker Boys, Baker Company inside The Surge to fix Iraq, some very candid views expressed by soldiers being interviewed and though not all were interviewed those that were had a near unaminous view that the US busted Iraq, finger being pointed at another not to be named but likely, we can just call him George too, ably backed by a Mr Cheney.

And btw, I have seen news footage on our television here of the 2.3 km. Syrian Flag banner.
And for sure, getting accurate news from abroad on who is shooting who up is always difficult where conflict is involved and take some of what you yourself have in your article and some questions do beg:
” Most dramatic of all, the unrest forced the Syrian government to resign for the first time since French colonial rule gave way to the Syrian Arab Republic in April 1946. “
So if the Syrian government resigned, who is the government you now refer to in other comments?, stooges appointed by The President? or who?, any recent election amidst all the mayhem?

” American pro-alliance media reported that the government in Syria was behind the killings and that the dead were peaceful protesters. What was not reported by Western media were the Syrian government claims that the protestors were armed Islamic extremists calling for an Islamic state. “
There have been various reports but I suspect confusion and suspicion will remain supreme if there is doubt about the government, whether it has resigned or not! , and that will apply to all shootings, police officers included:.
” Western media including Arab-language BBC and Aljazeera-funded Arab language media and Arabic media owned by governments allied with the US such Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates reported on the Opposition claim that police officers, who had refused to shoot innocent protestors, were themselves being executed by other police and army personnel. “
When you look at some facts and I take what you yourself report as fact re:
” An attack on a police station in Jis Alshougor killed 120 police officers. Their mass graves were uncovered to reveal they had been killed in cruel fashion – cut to pieces with some body parts left on the streets. “
It does raise an eyebrow, for the practical guy I am says were all of these 120 unarmed and totally insuspecting of their fate for you would have to think that for otherwise you would think it would take a sizable other armed force to butcher such a number.
And I haven’t got Jis Alshougour on my map to know how far away it is from somewhere else in Syria, but with 120 police stationed there, you would think it was a sizable city and it would seem odd that the butcherers have disappeared or are still roaming free.
As for
” Western media conceded that the gruesome discovery gave credence to Syrian government accusations that the opposition was using violence against civilians and police simultaneously to stir up the unrest. “
Even you question the ability of the media but do seem happy to accept their reporting in this case.

Are you disputing that refugee camps have not been set up in Turkey for many people fleeing Syria?
Is it possible that people from rural areas are more affected and the flag carriers in Damascus are not aware of what goes on out there for that would not be too surprising for you only have to look no further than Latte sipping Greens and others in our cities who would have little idea of what is happening in the NT other than some proven liar of a women has just been up there attempting to bribe herself out of trouble.

In all honesty, can you even really pretend to know what is going on by reading of other reports?

Harry Nakichbandi says:

09:42am | 01/07/11

I understand where you are coming from. However, the idea is that Media is spelling more gas on the fire. It is definitely not helping the situation; in fact their approach is actually embracing violence.
To answer your final question, no I don’t know what is really going on in every single kilometre in Syria, 185180 sq km, Libya or any other troubled country. However, I would like to assure you if I was an owner of a “wealthy” media outlet, the least I can do is to make sure that I have reporters on the ground trying their best to reflect the story with its actual size, according to officials 64000 people against the regime comparing to 23million Syrians, Come on!
Having said that I will probably never own a media company!

Thanks for your comment!

AdamC says:

09:46am | 01/07/11

Look, first, as Erick says, the meeja’s the meeja and they have their group-think consensus down pat, OK?

Second, I totally want to believe that you aren’t, like, an apologist for the Syrian government. But I can’t help but think that you have a softer spot for Baby Assad and his coterie of thieves and killers than reason can really warrant. Sure, he’s making some belated reforms, but he’s still a pretty nasty dictator who hasn’t had any scruples about killing his subjects when they have agitated for democratic changes.

And you would have to be pretty naive, even for a western journalist, to believe that flag stunt was some kind of spontaneous outpouring of support for the Ba’ath Party government from ordinary Syrians.

Harquebus says:

11:24am | 01/07/11

While the barons still live, we will get the same old same old. From them at least. I get my real news elsewhere.

John says:

12:27pm | 01/07/11

This pretty much the western media, a propaganda machine. For me it started with 9/11, i found the they were lying about who were the people behind the attacks, and how the buildings collapsed. Then they feed the media will al-qaeda lies for ten years, and then final big lie was the killing of osama bin laden. It’s pretty obvious the us, uk, france other western nations are involved in subversion and regime change operations in the middleast. Libya being the most obvious with bombs dropped by western forces. They tried it in Iran and FAILED!,they trying it in Syria, most likely did it in Egypt and Tunisia. Democracy and liberty crap. It suspect it’s an expansion of their empire, maybe to merge the middleast with europe. They need to get rid of dictators first. If they can subvert western democracy and rule the west, they they can subvert middle-astern democracy.

John says:

12:38pm | 01/07/11

Middleast needs dictators with iron fists, if it didn’t law and order will be out of control. You either have dictators (western of Arab ones) or you have an Islamic state. IF the US dictators were to leave the Afghanistan and Iraq, the nations would most likely slowly fall into civil war.  The US over the shah of Iran, and replaced him with an Islamic government that turned on the US later on. Dictators are most likely best solution of the middleast. Saddam, Gaddafi, Assad, Shah of Iran, they all keep the Islamic’s at bay with an Iron fist. Maybe they getting rid of these ones to install more US friendly dictators, that will loot the nations for their masters.

Glen says:

12:49pm | 01/07/11

Title of this article makes my head spin when reading.

mike j says:

03:08pm | 01/07/11

“Steps taken by the Syrian government and not reported include the lifting of emergency law that had been in force since 1962.”

Funny how being bent over by the West makes Third World despots shit humanitarian reforms.

Maybe Gaddafi’s desperate, eleventh hour appeasement attempts weren’t deemed newsworthy.

Don’t worry, Harry. I’m sure Mum knows just how important and invaluable you are to the free press.

Bassel says:

08:34pm | 01/07/11

Thanks Harry for giving us the chance to know the other half of the story.
Well done ,
Bassel

stephen says:

09:38pm | 01/07/11

If you believe the Press is at fault here, why don’t you go to the Press Council and not, by default, attempt to defend Assad ?
I query your motive for this article.
And as far as I know, Syria has been in a state of emergency since November ‘67, not ‘62, as you noted.

Harry Nakichbandi says:

10:22pm | 01/07/11

Stephen, Your suggestion is very interesting I must say. I know that there are a lot of people who did com pain and are still complaining… Personally though I wouldn’t.
Unfortunately, I don’t either like or dislike al assad but I do respect his intelligence. And at the end of the day I just want journalists to try harder when delivering matters that could potentially effect any human life.

According to wikipedia the emergency law has been in state since 1962.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria

stephen says:

12:01am | 02/07/11

Yes, I like Assad’s intelligence too and I’ve read all the books and maybe ‘67 is wrong, (possibly ‘69 ?) but what is right is that there has been no social uprisings here in the West since ‘67 and we dealt with them and we changed and then in ‘73 more trouble then again in ‘87 then again in ‘11 and we changed again, (war in Afghanistan to protect us and Europe from the charlatans) and now you want us to understand Old Culture ?
Why don’t you change ?
Who do you think you are ?
The only reason you people are not in museums is because of western university archeology departments.

faulty says:

08:46am | 02/07/11

Well said @TheRaptured.

100% because they don’t want the true story to come out. Iraq ring any bells? Larger agenda here, total transformation (country by country) of the middle east and bombs will not stop until Libia, Iran and Syrian leaders are deposed.

We are in for a long ride….

Kate says:

06:37am | 05/07/11

Great topic Harry. Media can be manipulated especially when the manipulators are masters at it. Who knows what is really going on re the unrest. How much is spontaneous and representative of the people and how much is stirred up by outside forces driven by self interest? The whole scene across the Middle East and North Africa reminds me of the book All the Shah’s Men by New York times journalist Stephen Kinzer about the fake insurgency created by the US and UK to remove the then leader of Iran Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 because he was wanted to stop all the profits from Iran’s oil industry going to Britain. Yes, it was all over oil.  I heard an interview with Kinzer where he explained that his interest in researching and writing the book came from an encounter with a older Persian woman at a party in New York. She asked something along the lines of ‘why did you Americans do that to us?’ He had no idea about what had happened and set about finding out about the orchestrated coup. It is a fantastic read if you get the chance. It also shows that to be a good political or international affairs reporter, you do need to know your history - especially as it has such a habit of repeating itself.

Anna says:

08:14am | 05/07/11

Great article Harry. I am constantly questioning everything I read/hear on the tv/internet/newspaper. It just goes to show that absolutely no one will ever know the true story.

I watched a really interesting video yesterday, although on a completely different subject, that also makes me question why I even bother with the Western media channels.

For anyone that is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au78lWS65Fg

Bill Graber... the former Paula Brooks says:

07:32am | 07/07/11

just call me Graber…. Bill Graber