BBC MEDIA ACTION
Transforming lives through media around the
world (their words, not mine!)
BBC Media Action is funded by us,
from our annual TV licence fee and through tax by direct grants of huge amounts
of public money from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Unlucky for some! No 13. See page 13 of this report, http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/pdf/syria.pdf
BBC MEDIA ACTION • COUNTRY CASE STUDY: SYRIA
Sign up for our newsletter: bbcmediaaction.org13
The BBC and Arij: Working in Syria, but not within
the system
BBC Media Action
(formerly the BBC World Service Trust)
In 2004,
BBC Media Action launched a three-year £1.5 million Arab Media Dialogue
programme across seven Middle Eastern countries. (7
Middle Eastern Countries such as: Algeria,
Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Syria...Libya?)
In Syria,
BBC Media Action conducted journalism skills, business
and management training and mentoring for selected journalists, editors and
managers, working in close partnership with both state and private media
outlets. The private online newspaper, Syria News, was identified as a
promising start up and, in 2006; its managers were trained on sustainable
business models for online news. Seven
of its staff attended BBC-run workshops in training for trainers and mentoring
skills before Syria News set up its own training operation for young graduates.
Many of those who took part in this
programme still work in the media and have become respected media trainers,
journalists and editors in their own right. The programme highlighted the structural
blockages that hold the profession back in Syria, while recognising the
potential to work within such a restricted media system if that work is based on
needs and has buy-in from senior staff and the support of the Government – in
Egypt and Syria in particular.
In 2008,
BBC Media Action launched its three-year project ‘Socially Responsible Media
Platforms in the Arab World’ with funding from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth
Office. Syria News was the official Syrian partner,
endorsed by the Ministry of Information on behalf of the BBC. The project aimed to set up an interactive
online training platform, the Ara2 [opinions] Academy, for Syria’s journalistic
and blogging communities, creating networks between the two. This reflected the changing status of bloggers
in the regional media and responded to their aspiration to be seen as credible
social commentators. The project also
supported Syria News as an example of a sustainable independent media
organisation, with managerial staff taking part in study tours in London and in
business development training.
BBC Media Action did not work with a local partner
on blogger training, as this could have alienated and excluded parts of the
blogging community. Instead, the BBC collaborated with an informal network
of bloggers from across the country and recruited mentors for the distance
learning system (the Ara2 Academy) who were trained at workshops in London and Damascus.
Two Arabic-language courses, ‘Basic
Journalism Skills’ and ‘Social Media Tools’, were delivered through the bespoke
Ara2 Academy platform and face-to-face workshops that gave beneficiaries the
chance to apply theory to practice. The programme did not advertise courses
officially, yet within days of the announcement of the training programme on
the Syrian blogosphere and through word of mouth, over 70 journalists and bloggers
applied for places – a sure sign of the huge appetite for training on basic
journalism principles and social media tools in Syria. A total of 25 bloggers,
31 web journalists, and 7 trainees who were both bloggers and journalists took
part in the training programme before the worsening political situation put an
end to it. For most of the journalists
on Ara2, the social media course was their first introduction to online
publishing tools and the use of blogs. Many bloggers were largely unaware of
ethical standards of journalism and were introduced to web tools that they had heard
of, but did not have the skills, confidence or know-how to use. The project revealed that those who use the
Internet – even those with their own blogs – often lack the skills to use the medium
to its full potential. These
partnerships have not survived Syria’s recent upheavals. The owners of Syria
News have opened a second office for the newspaper in Turkey while the bloggers
keep a low profile as the Assad regime continues to crack down on all dissent.
Some former students have been detained for their outspoken blogging or
journalism. Some have left Syria. Participation in Ara2 (a foreign-funded
platform) was used as an excuse for detentions, as it is illegal to have
contact with foreign organisations, even though no bloggers were charged with
anything related explicitly to their participation in the programme. Their plight is a clear demonstration of the
risks of working with individuals in Syria.
Arij (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism)
Arij [http://arij.net] was created by leading Arab
journalists, editors, media activists and professionals concerned about the
lack of investigative reporting skills that could benefit local communities. The programme was originally set up in 2005 with
funds from the Danish Parliament, disbursed through
Copenhagen-based International Media Support (IMS).
The Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is now a key donor. Arij works within the parameters set by the
Syrian Government, with official approval from the relevant ministry to train private
and state-sector journalists through its office in Syria. Journalists trained by Arij form a strong
clique and there is no sense of threat or risk involved in participating. This method of working in Syria is what
Ibrahim Yakhour, calls “comforting” and “expansive”. 79
Arij has trained many young journalists with no
objections from the Government and with official endorsement, resulting in a
bigger buy-in from those who don’t want to cross any red lines (such as
working with foreign media). The training usually
focuses on social and environment reporting, which are
important issues for Syria, but the skills learned
can be applied to many other areas, including politics. 80
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/230941/Project_list_2013-14.pdf
14 ½ Million of your money on media in
the Middle East and Africa.(just 1 year!)
BBC Media Action (all
funded by us, from our annual TV licence fee and by tax by direct grants of
huge amounts of public money through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office).
Here is the UK Column’s view of the BBC, and its plethora of dangerous meddling and interfering spin-off charities, run by and employing BBC cronies, primarily BBC Media Action:-
Part 2 of our exposure of the BBC, focussing on their change agenda in
the Middle East and Africa
Dialogue in the Middle East (Here’s another one, The Media Dialogue Programme)
The Media Dialogue Programme helps journalists
improve their professionalism, says Simon Derry
Has the BBC actually played a large role in facilitating the
recent civil unrest and the Arab Spring uprisings? http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmfaff/80/80awe20.htm
The British People are a decent bunch, we may be misguided
and far too trusting, but we are mainly a thoroughly kind, good natured and caring
race. In the main, the British People
work bloody hard, pay their considerable
dues, pay astronomical amounts of tax,
and vote and volunteer to try to keep this country a respectable one. A whole bunch of British people have worked bloody hard for many years to get this
country a Freedom of Information Act.
Now this country’s infrastructure is being “changed” from the
old private/public sector system which worked quite well and would have greatly
benefitted from the Freedom of Info. Act 2000, to what we have now – which is a three system structure, with
the inclusion and massive growth of the Third
Sector.
The Third Sector is not accountable. It is hard to find out what goes on, even who
and what these groups are. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 does
not apply to the 3rd Sector which is taking over from the Public
sector in numerous areas of public life- which the Third Sector refers to as “Civil
Society.”
British tax payers’ money should be being spent on health
care, defence, education, elder and disabled care, science and development,
amenities, pensions, the land, the roads………etc.
This is what we want, this is what the British people want.
Why is our money being spent on massively expensive and
dodgy schemes like these? This is just
ONE example, there will be thousands more about which we are unaware…..THIS
NEEDS TO STOP.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/230941/Project_list_2013-14.pdf
£14 ½ Million of your money to be spent on media in
the Middle East and Africa.(just 1 year!) UK Government's own facts and figures.NOW YOU KNOW WHY WE ARE HAVING PUBIC SECTOR CUTS!
AND THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WEST MEDDLES!
According to Syrian Truth’s Facebook page, the photo is of a toddler who was living in the Deir ez-Zor Governate in eastern Syria, bordering Iraq. She was tied up by members of the U.S.-supported “Free Syrian Army” — which is dominated by foreign, Sunni jihadis — and made to watch as her mother and father were killed for being Shia. Here is how the Obama administration is using your tax dollars — mockingly in the name of “freedom.”
As you can see her heart has been cut out and stuffed with cloth. No need to speculate what was done to that heart.
Want your tax monies to be supporting Barack Hussein, Francois Hollande and David Cameron’s funding of “rebels” (terrorists=devout Muslim savages) in the Saudi, Qatari, Jordan, and Turkey’s Sunni genocide of Shia’s? source – The Muslim Issue
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