Syrian activists living in exile in Cairo want to broadcast independent news to Syria - with the help of the new radio channel Radio Ana. Its aim is to lay the foundation for a democratic Syria.
Rami Jarrah is taking a sip from his whiskey. "Anyone else having one?" he asks, "the only way to cope with such news really," he mumbles. His computer screen is showing the latest video from Homs. More blood, more dead bodies. Jarrah, 28, gets videos like that sent to him every day to Cairo by a network of some 350 people from all over Syria. They call themselves citizen journalists who report from the demonstrations around the country.
Until now, Jarrah and his four colleagues in Cairo have collected and documented the videos because they were dreaming of one day pressing charges against Syrian President Bashar al Assad with the International Court of Criminal Justice in The Hague.
Voices of everyone in Syria
But documenting alone isn't enough any more, believes Rami Jarrah. He and his team plan to set up their own radio channel in Cairo with reports about and from Syria. Their channel is to be called ‘Ana', which means ‘I' in Arabic. "We don't have a media outlet that will represent the voices of everyone in Syria," explains Jarrah. "The radio station will convey the voices of all the different voices and all the different aspects - whether they support the regime, whether they're against the regime, or whether they're just on the sidelines - what we call the silent majority."
With the help of their radio channel, Jarrah and his colleagues are striving to achieve one thing above all: they want to deliver independent news to the Syrian population, something the people in the country don't have access to. The Assad regime is using the state media for its propaganda. And private radio and television stations that are dependent on licences avoid covering politics altogether. Any form of criticism of the President and his family is illegal in Syria. As far as the videos posted online by rebels are concerned: It's difficult to verify where they are from; and only few Syrians can watch them at all. Access to the internet practically only exists in urban areas and is subject to strict controls.
In addition, there are few foreign journalists left who report from Syria. Those who do enter the country on an official journalists' visa only get to see a few selected places, handpicked by the ministry. Very few reporters dare enter the country illegally to get the chance to talk to opponents and supporters first-hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment