Crisis in Syria Looks Very Different on Satellite Channels Owned by Russia and Iran -- The Lede/New York Times
As my colleague Neil MacFarquhar reports, the flood of video documenting atrocities in Syria has intensified in the past 24 hours, with gruesome images broadcast on state television following bomb blasts in the city of Aleppo and more clips posted online by opposition activists of the assault on besieged neighborhoods of Homs.
On Friday, state media reports, featuring graphic views of corpses, blamed the bombing of military and police targets in Aleppo on “terrorists.” A spokesman for the Free Syria Army, an opposition group of military defectors, denied involvement and called the explosions a cynical government ploy to draw attention from the bombardment of Homs.
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My Comment: Media coverage of the Syrian civil war from Russian TV is having an impact on Russians .... at least on the Russians that I know. They are always surprised when I talk to them about Syria .... especially this past week with what is happening in Homs. Fortunately, most Russians are also plugged into the internet, and they are getting a non-Russian government viewpoint of the civil war that is radically different from their own state TV.
What is my analysis .... Russian TV knows that they will lose credibility if they become too blatant in their pro-Assad news coverage, they also know that they must still compete with what is on the web. My prediction .... they will cover the civil war, putting emphasis on rebel atrocities, and mentioning only briefly Syrian government actions. Their news coverage will not be "fair and balance", but they will cover it none-the-less.
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