Vice President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Abdul Hakim Bashar, held a symposium on Tuesday in the city of Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, focusing on Kurdish media, particularly addressing the hostile media represented by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and its affiliates.
During the symposium, attended by dozens of media professionals, Bashar discussed the state of Kurdish media in Syria, categorizing current media into four groups. At the forefront are media outlets aligned with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and its affiliates in Syria, which distort the Kurdish struggle and generate external adversaries.
Bashar also addressed media outlets that prioritize trivial and insignificant matters, whether partisan or political, systematically amplifying them to distract the public from more pressing issues.
Furthermore, Bashar highlighted the existence of troll armies on social media, such as groups recruited by the Assad regime for specific tasks, including defaming certain parties or distorting the image of individuals opposing the regime.
Bashar emphasized that serious media representation is found in the Kurdish National Council, its affiliated parties, and other national parties, along with the majority of independent journalists and media professionals. However, he noted that the performance of this group still falls short of expectations.
In terms of improving media performance, Bashar stressed the necessity of formulating a clear political discourse by the Kurdish National Council and other Kurdish parties. He advocated for identifying weaknesses and presenting proposals to address them, emphasizing positive aspects, building upon them, and developing media competencies capable of managing current challenges. He urged a departure from narrow partisan tendencies, advocating for a national media policy, broad engagement with national issues, and positive interaction to make them a priority.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
