“International organizations have described the human rights status in Syria as being one of the worst in the world, with security forces having a long history of harassing and imprisoning rights activists and critics of the government.” ---Al Jazeera
When our group chose Syria, it was really because most of us knew very little about their media system. Now I understand why. Although protests and death tolls in Syria have been flooding the international news as of late, media within the country is very difficult to follow.
This is because censorship in the Syrian media is one of the most severe in the world. The government imposes serious restrictions on the state press. Journalists have to apply for licenses from the government in order to write anything, and even then, that license can be revoked at anytime due to controversy in its content. This is allowed under emergency laws that have been in since 1963. If any information is deemed 'a threat to public safety and security' it will be removed at the will of government officials such as the Minister of Information or Minister of Culture.
Not only does state-imposed censorship occur, but cultural and social censorship as well. Many independent TV stations will not show programs which they find unfit for the public. This may be due to fear or a strong feeling of responsibility to protect social, cultural and religious integrity.
The problem with the movement in Syria right now (despite social media and access to information being severely restricted) is that, unlike Egypt and Tunisia, the movement is highly fractured. The entire populace is not in support of the protests, in fact there are Assad loyalists that are working to undermine the effectiveness of social media. For example, loyalists are flooding Twitter with the common hashtags #Syria, #Daraa and #Mar15 that have been used by protestors, in order to draw attention away from the protestor's point of view and get more of the loyalist perspective out there.
I find it really interesting that since Twitter and Facebook have come to represent a great tool for dissenters and protestors now the opposition is adjusting to combat this. Since censorship and restrictions can only go so far, now enemies of the revolution are working within social media to gain support for their cause.
It's amazing how quickly people have learned to adapt to such a situation. This project has truly opened my eyes about Syria specifically and I really can't wait to compare our findings with the other group's findings about their countries in the same region.
Big things to look out for. Things are not always as they seem. We used to think we could get an accurate perspective of people just by reading Twitter, now we must look deeper in what we thought was so honest to stuff below the surface, such as flooding Twitter to manipulate hashtag searches and represent a small loyalist group on a larger scale so they appear bigger than they are.
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but if the common public is blocked from Twitter, how do you think these loyalists are getting their Tweets out?
Food for thought.
When our group chose Syria, it was really because most of us knew very little about their media system. Now I understand why. Although protests and death tolls in Syria have been flooding the international news as of late, media within the country is very difficult to follow.
This is because censorship in the Syrian media is one of the most severe in the world. The government imposes serious restrictions on the state press. Journalists have to apply for licenses from the government in order to write anything, and even then, that license can be revoked at anytime due to controversy in its content. This is allowed under emergency laws that have been in since 1963. If any information is deemed 'a threat to public safety and security' it will be removed at the will of government officials such as the Minister of Information or Minister of Culture.
Not only does state-imposed censorship occur, but cultural and social censorship as well. Many independent TV stations will not show programs which they find unfit for the public. This may be due to fear or a strong feeling of responsibility to protect social, cultural and religious integrity.
The problem with the movement in Syria right now (despite social media and access to information being severely restricted) is that, unlike Egypt and Tunisia, the movement is highly fractured. The entire populace is not in support of the protests, in fact there are Assad loyalists that are working to undermine the effectiveness of social media. For example, loyalists are flooding Twitter with the common hashtags #Syria, #Daraa and #Mar15 that have been used by protestors, in order to draw attention away from the protestor's point of view and get more of the loyalist perspective out there.
I find it really interesting that since Twitter and Facebook have come to represent a great tool for dissenters and protestors now the opposition is adjusting to combat this. Since censorship and restrictions can only go so far, now enemies of the revolution are working within social media to gain support for their cause.
It's amazing how quickly people have learned to adapt to such a situation. This project has truly opened my eyes about Syria specifically and I really can't wait to compare our findings with the other group's findings about their countries in the same region.
Big things to look out for. Things are not always as they seem. We used to think we could get an accurate perspective of people just by reading Twitter, now we must look deeper in what we thought was so honest to stuff below the surface, such as flooding Twitter to manipulate hashtag searches and represent a small loyalist group on a larger scale so they appear bigger than they are.
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but if the common public is blocked from Twitter, how do you think these loyalists are getting their Tweets out?
Food for thought.
Looking forward to this presentation!
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