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| Ghatan Sleiba, Syrian journalist [Photo:BBC] |
Many journalists who cover Syria struggle to convey the complexities of the country's conflict. But Syria's prominent al-Akhbariya network has no such problem.
It portrays a reasonably straightforward world: a brave Syrian government leads the fight against foreign-led terrorists.
Akhbariya is privately owned, but it obeys the instructions of the ruling Baath Party. Every day it broadcasts the same message - the Syrian people are united in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Now, one of the channel's former reporters reveals how the channel does it. Ghatan Sleiba, 33, escaped to Turkey at the end of June.
Managing messages
Mr Sleiba doesn't have any footage of himself reporting for the channel, but he is keen to pass around a photo showing him holding an Akhbariya microphone.
"We talk to people before we interview them," Mr Sleiba says, continuing to use the present tense about his work as a reporter for the channel.
" Syrian citizens don't know anything - they don't know what to say - so we tell them what to say on TV in order to get the best report that we can. As a journalist my success is in getting my report to the channel. I do the reporting and I present it to the citizens - to the nation.
"For example, we tell the interviewees to tell us that they support Bashar al-Assad and they will always support him. And they accept this and say whatever I tell them. We do this to please the authorities who watch us."
Mr Sleiba explains how instructions are issued to reporters.
"The Ba'ath party sometimes appoints a representative to give orders on its behalf. They generally contact us through an information office. The committee tells us to go and take pictures of this particular event, to take pictures of the martyrs, and so on."
'Simple nation'
