There was a time when a humble news website was a revolutionary act. In the early 2000s, Syrians looking for independent political news and commentary would visit websites like All4Syria.net or Syria-News.com to access content uncensored by Syria’s secret police, the mukhabarat. They were a relatively small number—those who could afford an internet connection with sufficient speed—estimated in 2010 at around 4 million people, or 17 percent of the population. Nevertheless, for the first time, the internet gave Syrians the freedom to break the government’s monopoly on information. However hard the government tried to block critical websites run by dissidents in exile, Syrians at home always found a way around.
Today, the news website has been eclipsed by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Syrians, like people everywhere, increasingly consume news through their phones, mixed into a stream of family updates, entertainment, advertising and political propaganda. Much of it reaches them without the filtering of professional journalists. The stand-alone news website, once a gateway to forbidden information, is now a relic in an age of digital platforms that combine video, audio, live discussion and written reporting in a single feed.
Syria Direct has been an excellent news website. Since 2013, it built a loyal readership among Syria-watchers, particularly in Europe and the United States, who value its carefully-researched reporting that shuns the vagaries of the daily news cycle. During the war, Syria Direct reported on military and security developments but also on gender, the environment, the diaspora and the economy. Syria Direct found its niche in in-depth journalism that did not depend on sensationalism or social media fads.
We will continue to produce that journalism. But Syria Direct can no longer define itself simply as a website that publishes articles about Syria. Our task is to produce rigorous journalism in the formats people now use, which means investing in audio, video and other products capable of reaching audiences beyond the traditional readership of a news website. The Syrian media landscape is now wide open, offering a rare opportunity for experimentation, investment and institution-building.
Raising the standard of journalism across the board is something else we will continue to do. That means maintaining Syria Direct’s long-standing training role: identifying talented Syrian reporters and helping them build careers in a precarious profession. Producing quality journalism in two languages and across multiple formats, while also strengthening the wider ecosystem of independent Syrian media, requires an organization equipped to do both.
In its new iteration, Syria Direct will become a broader Syrian media development organization, with journalism as one of its core programs. The flagship written product will evolve into a stand-alone publication. Alongside it, we will develop audiovisual products, each with its own audience, editorial identity and distribution strategy. The aim is to build media products suited to the way Syrians now consume information. And we will continue to do what we have done for more than a decade: train and mentor the next generation of Syrian journalists.
Syria Direct was born in Amman in 2013 amid an escalating and brutal war back home. Like millions of Syrians, it went into exile, finding refuge in Berlin, where it continued its work unhindered. This month, like many of its compatriots, Syria Direct has returned to Syria for good to help rebuild not only the country, but also the institutions it needs to thrive. For us, as for many returnees, “a future Syria free of Assad” is no longer an idea; it is daily life: complicated, contradictory and as preoccupied with bread-and-butter issues as with political ideals. It is no longer simply about stepping on Assad’s picture. It is also about the price of bread, irrigation and the most mundane aspects of everyday life that, at first glance, appear innocuous but can be deeply political.
Syria Direct must now embed itself in that life and root its journalism in the country as it is. Its Damascus office will serve not only as its headquarters, but also as a hub for Syrian and international journalists and researchers: a place to work safely, exchange ideas, build networks and develop new projects.
Syria Direct played an important role during the revolution, providing impartial and objective coverage of the conflict. The question now is whether it can become indispensable to the country in what follows. We will do our best to build on the tradition established through more than a decade of painstaking work, bringing it up to date and carrying it forward into the post-Assad era. At its best, journalism can be an act of national reconstruction. It can help a society rediscover itself after years of distortion and fear, fostering the collective understanding on which reconciliation and stability depend.
We are grateful to our readers for their loyalty, and to our donors for the support that has made this work possible.
Malik al-Abdeh
Executive Director
Syria Direct
The post From Exile to Damascus: Our new chapter begins appeared first on Syria Direct.
