Broadcasters risk reporting on Syrian rebellion
Secret network counters regime’s story with video, stories from war zone
At 8:30 p.m. in a makeshift newsroom on the top floor of a nondescript building, Syrian news anchor Qutaiba Al-Khatib tapped away on his laptop, writing a script for a newscast. The lead story: the killing in Houla of 108 civilians, including dozens of children, allegedly by supporters of the regime.
Within hours, this secret broadcast operation had beamed news and videos on the massacre to Syrians and to points throughout the Arab world. Worldwide, the story dominates headlines.
On Thursday, Syria blamed rebel fighters for the massacre that Syria alShaab television has been covering for days. Qassem Jamal Suleiman, investigating the massacre for the regime, said the aim was to frame the government. Those tuning in to the station can see the horrifying images for themselves and hear from people who survived it.
Syria alShaab TV has become a prime mover of news on the Syrian rebellion, quickly moving video from amateurs inside a war zone that journalists are largely unable to cover. Al-Khatib, 28, was a successful news presenter in the United Arab Emirates when he was asked to leave his well-paying job for the good of the cause.
“I didn’t think twice; I just came here,” he said.
“Here” is an Arab capital that al-Khatib and his colleagues requested not be named because they worry about the long arm of the Syrian secret service. The channel has become one of the most organized networks covering the revolution.
Station founder Mohammad al-Ajlouni, a Jordanian-American media entrepreneur, said his aim when he began the channel was to broadcast what Syrian President Bashar Assad was trying to cover up.
“I never thought the channel would turn into one of the engines of the Syrian revolution, but it has,” he said. “Syrians knew the only way to get the images out there was to do it themselves.”
The channel, whose name means “Syria of the People,” began broadcasting in July 2011. It is funded by al-Ajlouni, who watched a speech by Assad denouncing protests in Syria and made a decision.
“All these things I learned in life working with the American media, believing in democracy — those people want democracy,” he said. “It is my duty to use all my experience, everything I have to help these people reach their goal.”
The channel airs live and pre-taped shows 14 hours per day from a cramped studio with handpainted backdrops. Programming includes two daily newscasts and talk shows featuring interviews with Syrian opposition figures of all persuasions — Islamist, leftist, secular.
“Every person who has been killed, we say their name, we say how they died,” al-Ajlouni said.
The content is broadcast on satellite airwaves, streamed online and on mobile devices at syriaalshaab.tv and posted on the channel’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.
During one evening, al-Khatib reviews the top story, the defection of an army officer. Video and picture feeds from hundreds of sources in Syria come in via Skype, the Internet communication service. He views reporting from a secret streaming website used by revolutionaries inside Syria. On YouTube, he reviews videos uploaded by Syrians transmitting on portable satellite devices.
Workers who receive a small monthly stipend type, work the phones or produce shows in the station’s three production rooms. Down a narrow corridor is a small control room with half a dozen monitors for filming and transmitting videos.
“We get thousands of videos,” said Al-Ajlouni’s daughter, Summer, 24, who runs the channel’s day-to-day operations, which frustrate Syria’s censorship efforts.
Druze playwright Reem Fleehan is a familiar face to Arab TV viewers. She was one of the first prominent Syrians to openly condemn the regime and was forced to flee her home. She hosts a weekly program at Syria alShaab featuring callers and interviews from inside Syria.
“We need a channel that looks at what is happening every day on the Syrian streets,” she said.
Like Fleehan, Al-Khatib is free to use his real name because he is already a wanted man. In September, a regime defector sneaked out a list of 2,500 people wanted by Syrian intelligence. AlKhatib’s name and those of his mother and father were listed, in his case for being an “instigator” and “participant” in the unrest.
In April, the Assad regime bombarded Taftanaz, al-Khatib’s home town, destroying 300 homes and arresting hundreds of people. Two of alKhatib’s cousins were killed. Agents went to his parents’ home and told them to tell al-Khatib to get off the air or his family would face the consequences, he said. He stayed off the air for three days to give his family time to flee to Turkey.
Al-Khatib said his family supports him nonetheless. “They tell me, ‘We are all with you,’ ” he said. Now that they are safe, “I will continue to do my work.”