In his sleep

A reader sent me this:  "Just for your information, Jim Muir's Arabic is really really good. He studied at Cambridge in the 1970s and has been living in Arab countries most of the time since. If he turned Syrian TV on, he would understand every word in his sleep."  OK but how could he say that if you watch Syrian TV you would get the impression that all is peaceful in Syria? It is blatantly false.