Project on Middle East Democracy

Project on Middle East Democracy
The POMED Wire


Syria: Can Private Media Flourish?

August 30th, 2010 by Jason

Salam Kawakibi, a senior researcher at the Arab Reform Initiative and the University of Amsterdam, has a new paper examining the re-emergence of the private media in Syria. Kawakibi gives a detailed history of the media in Syria beginning with the Baathist takeover in 1963. He explains that while the Baathist constitution protected free expression, a “state of emergency” was almost immediately declared and the government began “suppressing” the publication of newspapers with few exceptions. The censorship extended to radio and television as well, eventually becoming systemic due to the understanding that, “Since the party considers itself the embodiment of the national interest, this gives it the legitimacy to proscribe all forms of private publication that do not serve its interests, i.e. ‘the nation’s interest.’”

In 1970, Hafez al-Assad rose to power during a period known for “The Correction Movement”, which helped to end infighting in the Baath party. One of the new projects was the Press Institute, a government school that taught journalism, “…albeit with a degree course biased by propaganda.” While Assad would eventually ease restrictions in an attempt to broaden his coalition of allies, the state security structure maintained the status quo. Censorship was aided by the journalists and editors themselves in an attempt to curry favor with the Baath party.

Soon after Assad’s son Bashar came to power in 2000, a new law allowed privately owned media to reappear for the first time since 1963. Since then, numerous media organizations have emerged. Some claim to be free and unbiased but often, as in the case of the television station al-Dunya, a closer look reveals, ” (al-Dunya)… lost all credibility as soon as the owners’ names became public: businessmen closely linked to the country’s influential political authorities.”

Kawakibi concludes by noting that, “In 2009, over 50 newspaper and magazine issues were suspended by the Ministry of Information…Appeals to the authorities to increase openness and reconsider the necessity for deregulating the public sphere are growing in number all the time. The response has so far been exclusively negative, but there is hope.”


Posted in Civil Society, Journalism, Syria |

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