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Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian MP Muhammad Habash, which aired on Syria News TV on October 10, 2011:
Interviewer: What did the Syrian media do right in this crisis, and what did it do wrong?
Muhammad Habash: The Syrian media has always presented only half the truth, ignoring the other half. Similarly, the inciting [foreign] media has presented only half the truth. For example, in the Syrian media, you cannot see any anti-regime demonstration, and in the inciting media, you cannot see any pro-regime demonstration. Each side adopts half of the truth.
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We don't want to make the same mistakes as the traditional Syrian media, which views things through a single perspective. We want to present the truth as it is. It won't hurt us to admit that there is an opposition, and that there are people demonstrating. This will do us no harm. It is okay to broadcast the funeral of members of the army and security forces, but there are other funerals as well – funerals of Syrian citizens. Syrians should be able to see this in their national media, rather than in the inciting media. I feel that the Syrian media has been acting as a government instrument, rather than in a professional manner.
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