Saturday, April 15, 2017

Even the Intercept? how the reliance on Syrian rebel propaganda is explained

This article says: "the outside world has been forced to rely to an unusual degree on information gleaned from the Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts of opposition activists for any evidence of what was happening in Syria. But that was largely the result of an intentional strategy by Assad’s government, which made it almost impossible for foreign correspondents to report freely from inside the country, and then contested the reliability of social media evidence from opposition activists it sought to tarnish as Islamic extremists."  OK.  1) there is no mention to the kidnapping, harassment and murder of reporters by Syrian rebels.  2) there is no mention that "the outside world" (he means Western media and Gulf regime media) relies on social media ON PURPOSE and not by accident because the accounts of Syrian rebels is political convenient. 3) reporters can't report freely in government areas OR IN REBEL areas. 4) please desist from this silly notion of "opposition activists" as journalist. This is like talking about "regime activists" as journalists.  Where do I go now for skeptical and deconstructive journalism on Syria?