National Media vs Current Challenges

The past decade witnessed the emergence of media as a major war tool used by colonialist powers to implement their domination schemes in different parts of the world, particularly in the oil and gas-rich Arab region.  Yet this role has become clearer since the commencement of the so-called “Arab Spring”, which was purposely promoted in the media as “a revolution for freedom and democracy”, while in fact it was nothing but pure terrorism.

 During the global terrorist war against Syria, which has been continuous for more than two years and a half, the mainstream media in some Arab and western countries has been working destructively to undermine the Syrian state through inciting sedition, promoting terrorism and fabricating false news about what is really going on in the country. On the other side, the Syrian national media found itself amid serious challenges, so it spared no effort to confront this foreign-backed media aggression despite its limited experience and resources and despite threats.

Hence, developing the performance of the Syrian media vs the current challenges becomes an urgent need to further withstand the ongoing terrorist aggression on Syria. This topic was among others tackled during the workshop “National Media and the Current Challenges”, which was opened yesterday in Damascus with the participation of scores of journalists, political analysts, intellectuals and politicians from Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

Highlighting the activities of the three-day workshop, the “Syria Times” interviewed a number of participants who affirmed the importance of such events in drawing up a strategy to develop the national media and enrich the expertise of Syrian journalists.

Move from defense to attack

Lebanese political analyst and Head of the New Orient News Center, Ghaleb Qandil, said that despite limited capabilities and lack of security, the Syrian resistant media has succeeded in dismantling the virtual environment created by the hostile media for the aggression on Syria. It has managed to uncover the conspiracy hatched against the country and attained some victories in the media battle to defend the homeland.
“We are looking forward to seeing the national media in Syria moving from a state of defense to a state of attack, Qandil said, clarifying that “the battle will continue, so, a new media agenda should be implemented in future to enhance skills and expertise and to get more convincing, credible and wide circulated kind of media”.

“No experience is born complete, gaps in the media performance need to be filled in order to make a change,” Qandil added, pointing out that when the crisis hit the country, the Syrian media was making structural reforms and now it has to achieve this change in parallel with the great national battle against terrorism.

New Media Strategies Needed

Salim Harba, a political analyst from Syria, talked about the interaction and cooperation between the media and citizens. He said that the steadfastness and resistance of the Syrian people, the victories of the Syrian Arab Army in its battle against terrorist groups, the great political and diplomatic performance of state officials and the withstanding economy, all constituted an important topic for the national media to tackle.

Harba, who stressed that what Syria has been facing needs giant media empires to confront, said that the workshop is an opportunity to shed light on the weaknesses and mistakes in the national media and to work out new strategies to enhance the profession.

“The media battle will continue so long as Syria keeps its position as a resisting state against the Zionist and Western schemes in the region, Harba added, asserting that the media should now focus on uncovering  the destructive takfiri thinking of the ongoing terrorism in Syria which is totally strange to the traditions and values of the Syrian society. 

He stressed that people inside Syria and abroad have to realize the nature of this terrorism which was purposely promoted in the Arab region as a so-called “revolution”, and this is the task of the national media.

“The national media needs to address the whole society not a specific category and it must convince all the people of this society,” Harba said.

He stressed that the misleading media outlets and channels which incited terrorism in Syria and took part in shedding the Syrian blood are suffering their worst condition thanks to the awareness and steadfastness of the Syrian state, people, army and media. They are on their way towards inevitable collapse after losing  their credibility.

“Media’s Role in Building National Personality”, “Media between the State and the Authority”, “Mechanisms for News Making under Crisis”, “Media before, during and after the Crisis”, “Syrian Media vs Hostile Media”, “Media’s Role in Confronting Extremism and Takfiri Thinking” and “War Media” are titles of the presentations to be focused on during the workshop.  

H. Mustafa