In the
Guardian today, Brian Whitaker writes about press freedom in Syria. There isn’t any.
For all practical purposes the newspapers, radio and television are part of the government bureaucracy and their task at the moment, as the US prepares to impose sanctions, is to show that the rest of the world is rallying to support Syria in its conflict with Washington.
Last week, in Damascus, Whitaker interviewed Farouk al-Sharaa, Syria's foreign minister.
Just as the interview was about to start, a man with a TV camera came in and filmed us sitting with the minister. It was later shown on Syrian television and, according to someone who saw the programme, all our job titles had been changed to make us seem more important. One of the journalists, a freelance who sometimes writes for Paris Match, was described as the magazine's editor.
It may not be much on the Richter scale of dishonesty, but these little tweaks of the truth gradually add up a self-flattering picture in which the world's most senior journalists, as well as its leading statesmen, are supposedly queuing to pay tribute in Damascus.
It’s a fascinating article that also provides a glimpse of Syrian life from Whitaker’s source, the mysterious Mrs X. But I can’t recommend it without reservation. I baulked when I read this.
If only Washington would worry less about Hizbullah and the Palestinian militants and turn its attention to economic terrorism by the Syrian elite, there might be some progress.
Progress towards what?
