(Marshall, N) Assad's Amorphous State: Media’s Struggle to Discern Legitimacy of News in Syria...

Running head: MEDIA’S STRUGGLE TO DISCERN LEGITIMACY IN SYRIA 1

Bashar Al-Assad’s Amorphous State:

Media’s Struggle to Discern Legitimacy of News in Syria

Nicholas Marshall

BISGST 397C - Politics of the Middle East and North Africa

Dr. Nader Nazemi

University of Washington – Bothell

Abstract


Media, specifically journalism, have long stretched claims of influence and legitimacy far

beyond their physical realms. News agencies use methods of “hard news”, the act of journalism

where events ‘happen’, and “feature reporting”, the mode of journalism that relies on indirect

agency contact or influence with the story. Syria’s recent turbulence has propelled the nation to

one of the most controversial nations in the Middle East. This paper explores the complexities

and characteristics of media influence and attempts to establish and maintain legitimacy in the

reporting of news in Syria amid these times. Controlled comparison of news agencies’ coverage

on a recent controversy in Aleppo illustrates the discrepancies between agency ideologies while

also attempting to establish connections between the methodologies and interests between the

different news agencies.

Keywords: media, agencies, ‘hard news’, ‘feature reporting’, influence, controversy,

discrepancies, ideologies, methodologies, interests

Introduction


On a 2012 expedition to capture the intensifying Syrian Civil War, American journalist and

videographer Robert King witnessed and filmed the bombing of a civilian hospital in a rebel-

controlled area in Aleppo. The footage captured sights and sounds of war unabashed; a thick

cloud of dust covered the surrounding city block, obstructing the view of anything a few feet past

the camera lens. As the journalists moved toward the area of the hospital, the sound of rescuers

shouting and shovels and rubble became clearer, yet no sight of the hospital surfaced. King is

heard muttering, “We can’t see anything… we’re trying to move forward, but it’s impossible”

(King, 2012). The camera cuts to a scene at the base of the hospital. Amidst the rubble and fog

people chalk white covered in concrete dust emerge, carrying bodies, shovels, or empty-handed,

disappearing in and out of the camera’s still-hazy view like specters out of a nightmare. A

piercing cry erupts out of the fog, singular at first: “Allahu Akbar… Allahu Akbar”. More join

in, and the sound sweeps into a deafening crescendo, a powerful glimpse of chaos now common

in the war-torn country.

Syria was once described as one of the most ‘socially progressive Middle Eastern

nations’ yet is now one of the most controversial nations in the Middle East (Andersen, Seibert,

& Wagner, 2012, p. 195); Media representation in Syria has skyrocketed as the region and world

make sense of what is happening. The limited sight of King’s camera and the difficulty

expressed on navigating through the dust illustrate some of the physical risks and difficulties of

“hard news”, or spot/on-the-scene reporting. The alternate or supplemental model to hard news,

“feature reporting”, relies on agency contacts and utilizing various channels of media to relay

news as a primary source of media representation and authority. Feature reporting is an answer to

agencies that, for whatever reason, are absent where things are “happening” yet wish to acquire,

digest and reiterate these “happenings” in world media. In addition to these methods of


influence, media agencies that have no prevalent authority or wish to generate additional

authority in the happenings they wish to report can employ methods to broaden the influential

scope of the feature by conducting hard news, acquiring allies, setting up boundaries to

distinguish their professionalism, or by employing rhetoric and methods that broadens the topic

in hopes of reaching familiar grounds of authority and relevance. This paper attempts to illustrate

the scope of these attributes and their uses by news agencies by studying their coverage of a

recent controversy in Syria. Comparison and scrutiny of the methodologies and ideologies used

by these media agencies will attempt to shed light on Syria’s dichotomized, arguably

misrepresented state and role in the media, one that Iranian aide Ali Velayati claimed was a very

basic and key role in the region (Taipei, 2012, para. 2).

Ideology discrepancy between Syrian state media and outside journalism

A breaking story flashes across news and media spheres in late January with the discovery of

over eighty-one male bodies executed and thrown into the Queiq River at Bustan al-Qasar area in

Aleppo. The Queiq River is a point of contention and divider between Al-Assad’s forces and

rebel-held areas of Aleppo, and since both factions own different, sometimes inter-lapping

stretches, blame is being placed at each other’s feet. Syria’s state-run news agency, the Syrian

Arab News Agency (SANA), was among the first news outlets to run an article on the case. In

bold-face print, the headline reads, Jabhat al-Nusra Terrorists Perpetrate Mass Execution in

Aleppo (Syrian Arab News Agency, 2013), while the story underlines that “terrorist groups…

abducted [those found deceased] because of their rejection to the terrorist group” (para. 2). The

article stresses that “competent authorities” are following evidence on this massacre, which

SANA chalks up as the latest in a series of “brutal massacres” perpetrated by the terrorist groups

against “unarmed citizens” (para. 3). SANA’s authority stems from their close affiliation with


the state, and thus will adhere to that certain influence and be at greater risk to employ rhetoric to

harm their opponents and protect their allies and themselves. While the Western style of news

agency would question SANA’s relations to State and Arab affairs, it does not necessarily

discredit their journalism from affiliation alone.

However, Syria seemingly stands alone in their accusation as media from around the

world chime in to feature their reports on the case. TheGuardian journalists Chulov & Mahmood

(2013) recognize the Syrian regime’s blame on “terrorist gangs” as those being responsible

(Para. 5), but also include that rebel groups have blamed the Syrian government for the killings,

and believe some of the victims had crossed into state/loyalist areas and were “abducted” (Para.

6). New York Times correspondents highlight the blame game occurring on the issue in their

title, Adversaries in Syria Trade Blame for Scores of Killings in Aleppo (Mourtada & Cowell,

2013). For these two media agencies, the case is fresh and full of uncertainty. Yet for SANA, the

matter is wrapped up; a cut and dry affair. There is no evidence of the correspondents from any

of the three media entities discussed braving war-torn Aleppo to be among those on the riverbed,

scraping and digging and hauling bodies, talking to witnesses, gleaning “hard news” insights to

supplement feature and broadcast. If anything, given this assumption, SANA would seemingly

have the advantage over their British and American counterparts, arguing that the story fell into a

familiar and ‘local’ jurisdiction.

While the rest of the world is looking from the outside-in, a third major news agency had

the ability to go first-hand to the location of the case. Al-Jazeera sent correspondent Zeina Khodr

to Bustan al-Qasr to cover the story. In addition to her framework of the story-at-hand, the

agency included two interviews of Free Syrian Army rebels. Mohammed Sandik, one of the FSA

interviewed, stated that “some of these people were prisoners and they were executed- they were


shot in the head” (Khodr, 2013). In between interviews, Khodr and her team show how the

bodies are laid out: in rows, wrapped in blue tarps. While we view these images, Khodr’s

voiceover tip-toes through the assumption of blame, saying that, “we [Al-Jazeera] cannot

independently confirm who killed these people, but the opposition says there is no doubt

government forces [are] responsible… the government says the victims were kidnapped and

executed by ‘terrorist groups’… rejected by everyone here, who are calling this a new massacre”

(emphasis added, Khodr).

Figure 1.1 Al-Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr in Bustan al-Qasr. Adapted from

“Dozens of Men Found ‘Executed’ in Syria,” Khodr, 2013

Al-Jazeera’s physical presence utilizes sights and sounds to further add context and

power to their feature. Yet the mere presence of hard news does not share the finality of nature

and dispel all doubt. For example, interviews conducted with FSA soldiers, images of dead

teenagers wrapped up and being sorted through by ‘families’, alluding to ‘if’ the government was

at fault, all while having no representation of Assad’s party also puts interests into the feature

presented. These divisions of interests and influences, between method, affiliation, representation


and allies employed, create the discrepancies in rhetoric and ideologies between these news

agencies

Creating spheres of influence as an outsider

While Al-Jazeera and SANA benefit from established spheres of influence in Middle Eastern

media, outside news groups need to either conduct hard news expeditions to represent

themselves, gather allies to bolster their presumptions and inquiries, or broaden the scope of the

feature by introducing discourse that is large enough to envelop the topic and give points of

legitimacy by opening up the case to a world sphere where these agencies are influential. While

the first two principles are readily approachable and fairly straight-forward, the third is

something that is often more subtly done.

The New York Times (Mourtada & Cowell, 2013) article referred to earlier, Adversaries

in Syria Trade Blame for Scores of Killings in Apello, attempts to establish legitimacy by this

method. While the title implies a focus on the happening in Aleppo, the article opens up to

regional news of the fighting in the city of Homs (Para. 14), moving to the capital where a car

bomb in Damascus exploded and injured a Parliament member (Para. 16), and further still

touching on happenings in Washington, detailing Obama’s announcement to donate further aid

to Syrian refugees (Para. 17). In our example, the transition from happening-at-hand in Aleppo to

how that event is impacting policymaking in America is an example of taking happenings and

positioning them inside reachable authority. Media using this method can bring the audience out

from a topic it has little understanding or influence of, and gain legitimacy by showing the

connections of that unknown with the known.


Conclusion

The spheres of influence that operate in current Syrian media culture are divided, with SANA

interests directly relating to the Syrian Ministry of Information and Al-Assad, Al-Jazeera as an

intermediary or alternative or even oppositional voice. Western journalism is also divided, with

interests ranging from social equality to American socio-economics and business culture. These

very different agencies attempt to discover, digest, and report the state of Syria, all the while

creating and altering boundaries and ideologies in the land, to the extent that Syria, the coined

‘basic, key’ Middle Eastern state, becomes just as shifting, ambiguous as the dust swirling

around King during the Dar-al Shifa hospital bombing. By studying and comparing these

agencies, one is able to see and grasp the methodologies and ideologies employed by media

agencies to further their sphere of influence and assert their legitimacy as conduits of news and

media, not just in Syria but across the global stage.

Bibliography


Andersen, R.R., Seibert, R.F., & Wagner, J.G. (2012). Politics and Change in the Middle East. Pearson.

Chulov & Mahmood. (2013). Syrian rebels recover scores of bodies from Aleppo river as floodwaters recede. TheGuardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/29/syrian-rebels-bodies-aleppo-canal

Khodr, Zeina. (2013). Dozens of men found ‘executed’ in Syria Al-Jazeera. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013129133917989266.html

King, R. (2012). Ground Zero: Syria. United States: VICE Studios. Retrieved from http://www.vice.com/ground-zero

Mourtada & Cowell. (2013). Adversaries in Syria Trade Blame for Scores of Killings in Aleppo. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/world/middleeast/syria-crisis.html?smid=pl-share

Syrian Arab News Agency. (2013). Jabhat al-Nusra Terrorists Perpetrate Mass Execution in Aleppo. Retrieved from SANA online. http://sana.sy/eng/337/2013/01/30/464519.htm

Taipei Times. (2013). Attack on Syria considered attack on Iran: official. Retrieved from Taipei Times. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/01/27/2003553576

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