Thread by @EHSANI22

Thread on Syria Coverage: Reporters & experts were eager to establish access with insiders to help analyze the conflict. For reasons to be explained, Govt side was not going to provide that access. Those in Opp, however, were eager to tell outsiders their side of the story

2-Above dynamic helped shape #Syria coverage & analysis over past 7y. With help of social media, every reporter/analyst boasted long list of mostly Opp contacts who were feeding them timely updates. Expertise became correlated with length of your WhatsApp / Skype contact list

3-To be able to publish research papers or speak at Syria conferences out of Think Tanks, you needed to appear informed & to do so, you had to to be good at networking with your list of revolutionary contacts. The more you called and interacted w them, the more you were in demand

4-For every reporter/experts eager to establish access, revolutionaries on the inside were more than happy to satisfy the demand. Who wouldn’t want to establish helpful outside contacts & talk to major newspapers and analysts who were helping shape Western public opinion for you?

5-By it’s very nature, Syrian State was never cosy with Western reporters or analysts. From even before the crisis, they viewed media efforts as a hopeless case and a battle they couldn’t win, so why even try. Attempts to address the issue were always weak & disjointed

6-Based on numerous conversations w Opp activists, #Tunisia uprising gave hopes to many of them that the unfolding waves in region may one day reach Syrian shores. Those opposed to Damascus believed more than Govt side that Tunisia could be the spark they’ve been waiting for

7-The narrative of an Arab Spring sweeping the region toppling autocratic Govts like dominos was hard to resist. Those on side facing those dictators were seen as young, dignity & freedom loving brave indivuals who were demanding what every human with conscious ought to support

8-Whether it was the White House, EU Capitals, reporters or analysts, there was only one noble side to support from day one: Freedom seekers versus evil dictators. The reporting on Syria was to be built on this foundation from day one and has continued this way since

9-Naturally, a conflict involves two sides (or more) fighting for what they want to preserve/change. Each side feels justified in continuing the fight to secure its goal. Opp side was the straightforward good. The State side was evil, period. No point explaining more

10-To be sure, it’s not hard to dislike (hate?) autocratic one party rule states dominated by fearsome Intel agencies that have been in power for 5 decades while advocating anti-Western resistance policies. Yes, Syrian State was hardly the soft cuddly regional kid on the block

11-But, just because one may have list of reasons to dislike/hate Damascus leadership, reporting on the conflict objectively or accurately required seeing the crisis from the prism of the “regime” too and not just the WhatsApp/Skype list of opposition activists

12-Few reporters or analysts researched into why why Assad never quit and run as many predicted. Why there were so few defections from the top? How the system functioned and why many on the inside viewed the conflict as an existential risk with horrifying consequences to losing

13-#Syria reporting was reduced to operating inside an echo chamber. Talk to a list of people you support & have become an advocate for. Attack & demonize everyone else w different perspective. Given poor Govt media efforts, passionate private individual efforts filled the void

14-When Syrian Govt did try to open up to foreign reporters, the effort was hesitant. The reporting was also perhaps unsatisfactory to Damascus. This is a long standing issue that predates the crisis & when the war started, survival and not public image was leadership’s priority

15-Syria reporting ultimately proved that rather than investigating both sides to a conflict and letting readers decide, editors, journalists as well as self-appointed experts were acting merely as advocates for one side that they decided was on “right side of history”

16-Regime insiders are aware of the shortfalls of the system from nepotism, corruption, excessive use force by Intel agencies to size of govt, regulatory burden and unsatisfactory eco growth. But, burning the house down with help of jihadists in order to fix it is not the answer

17-Reporters & observers pushed for bringing the house down without any regard or plan for what happens during or after the process plays out. Shockingly, Iraq/Libya experience seems to have been already forgotten as people called for regime change & then hoped for the best

18- It didn’t help when Jerusalem-based journalist Jonathan Spyer was able to enter Syria with visa. This took place while Damascus was opening up to idea of allowing more access to foreign journalists. The incident was s setback for any such initiatives timesofisrael.com/israeli-journa…