Ever since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in March 2011, news reports on the Syrian civil war have gradually taken over all aspects of the media: from news channels, to newspapers, to radio stations, and online reports.

One question that comes to mind is how well is Western media explaining the Syrian conflict to us? Are we being mislead and ill-informed on the matter or are we being told the blatant truth?

In my opinion, the answer to this question is an unfortunate ‘we are being mislead and ill-informed’ response.

From the NY times to Fox news, to the National Post, to the Guardian, to Le Monde and Le Figaro, Western mainstream media’s coverage on the Syrian conflict has been the typical “simplistic, black and white,” good (opposition) vs. evil (government) story. [1] The story goes on to say that the dictatorial Syrian government is killing its civilians and protestors while the Western countries want to protect those civilians. “These outlets use any information that supports their stance regardless of its source and quality, and dismiss or ignore any information that brings it to question.” says Afshin Mehrpouya, an independent writer and professor on Middle East politics.

In this blog, I will discuss two main points on which Western media is misreading the Syrian civil war.

Misleading coverage #1: How popular is Assad in Syria?

In Western mainstream media there is a widespread belief that the majority of Syrians want president Bashar Al-Assad gone and replaced by the opposition.

It seems that one of the very few opinion polls that has been carried out to track what the majority of Syrians want is an online survey called YouGov Siraj. Unlike the contrary belief, the poll reported that 55% of respondents in Syria said they thought the president should stay in power. [2] Unfortunately, the poll’s sample was too low to be representative of all Syrians. Nonetheless, some journalists jumped in on the story and ran it because it was “interesting” and controversial. [2] In a similar fashion, it seems that most of the West’s representation of the “will of the Syrian people” is streamed to the public without essential evidence or examination of specific polls and surveys. Before adapting a position on behalf of Syrians, social media outlets must establish what the majority of Syrians want with factual based evidence and unbiased polls. Otherwise, their information will remain ill-informed and misleading.

Misleading Coverage #2: Interests of GCC countries pushing for regime change

Western mainstream media has been misrepresenting the roles of GCC countries in the Syrian conflict. They are reported as wanting to protect and help Syrian civilians, however, their actual complex interests are left unidentified. During December 2011, the Arab League decided to create an observer’s mission to Syria report for the period of December 24, 2011 to January 18, 2012. [4] After the report was issued, it turns out the report did not follow the main GCC belief that the evil government is killings its own people. “The report is adamant.There was no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against peaceful protestors. Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army.” [3] This report was ignored by Western media and demolished by Arab media. It was not even discussed, as the GCC prevented its translation from Arabic into English. How did the report get out? It was leaked. [3] On the other hand, it appears that some GCC countries have been funding and supporting regional Islamist groups in the Syrian conflict. For example, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were found funding extremist groups like Liwa al-Tawhid and al-Qaeda- linked Jabhat Al Nusra. [5] This information hinders the mainstream belief that the Gulf wants to protect Syrian civilians and promote democracy as those extremist groups do the complete opposite. This information is rarely found and published in Western mainstream media and is a further indication of how misleading the news on the interests of some GCC countries in the Syrian conflict is.

All in all, it is evident that Western media’s coverage on the Syrian conflict tends to be misleading, especially in the cases of president Assad’s popularity and the interests of GCC countries pushing for regime change. This misrepresented, one-sided, and biased approach of covering the Syrian conflict is disastrous for the Syrian people.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/misunderstood-syria/4746936 [1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17155349 [2]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB04Ak01.html [3]

http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/Report_of_Arab_League_Observer_Mission.pdf [4]

http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2014/04/08/qatar-s-changing-foreign-policy/h7gf [5]