New Delhi:
As soon as Bashar al-Assad leaves Syria, its impact is visible on the media there. Those who used to glorify Bashar al-Assad’s repressive regime changed their tune as soon as he left office. For decades, Syria’s ruling Baath Party and the Assad family have heavily restricted all aspects of daily life, including freedom of the press and expression. Now the Syrian media is discussing the shortcomings of Bashar al-Assad. At the same time it is trying to change the image of the new government.
When the rebel coalition led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Damascus on December 8 and announced the overthrow of Assad after an 11-day offensive, there was confusion and government news Agency SANA, which is the mouthpiece of the government, remained silent for more than 24 hours.
As soon as the government changed, the government media also changed its tone. The one who once praised the Assad government is now telling the public about the new government. Not only this, headlines like “Liberation of Damascus city and fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad” were also run, which were extremely unimaginable.
If you look at it, these words were unimaginable two weeks ago. The channel then broadcast a message declaring “Victory to the Great Syrian Revolution” in full screen on a red background for hours.
Earlier entry of foreign media was prohibited now
The entry of foreign media in the Assad government was largely controlled, as soon as Assad left, foreign media entered Syria and the work done by Assad started being discussed. They flocked there as soon as he was ousted from power, and flocked to notorious prisons and other places that were inaccessible under his insane rule.
After the war broke out in Syria in 2011, the government brutally repressed pro-democracy protests, after which Assad tightened restrictions on independent journalism. He hoped that the government’s statement would be followed.
Few reports of the rapidly advancing rebel attack initially appeared on official media, and no military comment was allowed except from the military as the rebels had captured government-held territory.
Whose power, his story
After Assad was ousted from power, journalists – particularly in state media – quickly replaced their online profile photos with pro-revolution images and removed any images depicting their involvement with former officials.
The next day, SANA changed its cover photo on the messaging app Telegram to match the three-star flag, the symbol of the Syrian rebellion. The agency began publishing news, including announcements from the rebels’ military operations room.
The private pro-government publication Al-Watan – which is relatively critical compared to other publications – published a statement in its defense on the day the rebels captured Damascus. It says, “Syrian media and media workers are not guilty.”
Al-Watan, founded in 2006, has since published news related to the new administration, and Abd Rabbo said information ministry officials “told us that our team can continue to work.” He told AFP by telephone, “We hope that in the future we will be able to return to printing again, especially because Syria is the only country that does not print a single newspaper.”
An employee, who requested anonymity due to security concerns, said civilian members of HTS – along with armed rebels – entered the station and told employees to leave.
