The Veracity of Media

In Tuesday’s discussion on conflicts in the Middle East, in particular Syria, the topic of media and exaggeration of media was touched upon. Media is a strong medium since it has the ability to sway people and influence people. We all know that censorship has a strong impact on how the people respond to situations, but how do we know if our sources are genuine if we do not get the whole picture?

I recently found this article from BBC about revolutions in a town of Deraa where men are hired to kill and torture children and women: http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9600000/9600000.stm

In this article from September 2011, writer Jane Corbin talks about the increase of media coverage from local civilians that has made its way onto various social networks. A man she interviews even notes that “our weapon is the camera and making a record of all this.” So obviously media is good for a revolution, it gets the real picture out there; right?

One of the stories Corbin writes that stuck out to me was the “Facebook tragedy,” where an American-Syrian saw her father get killed by army snipers following the day she returned to America from Syria. I felt horrible for Hala Abdul Aziz, as anyone would. Who wants to find out that their family and neighbors died through Facebook?

But, I did more research. This BBC article only uses Aziz’s situation as an example of what is going on in Syria. In actuality, before Corbin’s article was published, The Washington Post shared an article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/fbi-interviews-syrian-activists-in-washington/2011/07/19/gIQAJ5BmOI_story.html) featuring Aziz’s activist efforts in contacting the FBI over death threats in May after her father was killed. She believes the calls are from the Syrian embassy. Note that his article came out in July of 2011.

I also found an interview from Australia’s The World Today with Aziz which states that she is suing the Syrian Government for genocide and violation of human rights (http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3285007.htm). This article was published in August 2011 and goes into further detail about other men and women we were killed in the Facebook viral video.

I continued to search, but I stopped when I could not find any other articles on Aziz or the case. Gathering all the facts, I would have assumed Aziz’s situation would be more publicized and on every headline. But, no. What was highlighted in Aziz’s case was that her father and people in her town were killed. Is her fight in America for liberty and justice less worthy of appreciation? Or, is the media choosing to show only the harsh cruelty of the Syrian people? How can we trust the media if it is only giving us the partial truth?