When reporters make things up, either to cover up ignorance or to serve a political cause

Neil MacFarquhar:  " In Syria, the official narrative, at least on state television, was that the entire country was a sea of tranquillity".   I have been following the lousy Syrian regime media throughout the crisis: I watch Syrian regime TV (state and Dunya) and I read the papers and some websites.  This line but MacFarquhar is a flat out lie.  No one who knows a word of Arabic and who watches state television would come out with this conclusion.  I would say that the state television makes it clear (from the regime's perspective of course) that the country is in a state of turmoil or even war.  There are references to the conflict or to "developments" in all programs, including programs that are devoted to social issues. Guests always make references to what Syria is going through and there are references to bombings and shootings, and there are hours of discussion about the political change that is necessary to take Syria out of the crisis.  In fact, in recent months, as the grip of the security apparatus has been forcefully (by people's courage) relaxed a bit, and as people have become more courageous, you now hear blunt criticisms of the regime and its policies and economic neo-liberalism although the Asad family is spared any criticisms.  How could anyone come up with the sentence that MacFarquhar wrote is but one indication of the extent to which Western media, particularly the New York Times, is unreliable.