Syria - Listening Post
The Listening Post

The message from Damascus

A closer look the media battle in Syria and President al-Assad’s latest PR counter-offensive.

In the seven months of unrest in Syria, reporting on the situation there has been near impossible. Foreign journalists are barred from entering the country and much of the local media has been silenced. The international media has had to rely on amateur mobile phone footage being posted online by citizen journalists but verifying their accuracy has been a challenge. 

Last week however, President Bashar al-Assad broke his media silence and gave interviews to foreign media outlets, including Britain’s Sunday Telegraph and Russia TodayHis message was clear – intervention in Syria will come at a high price. In our News Divide this week, we look at the latest move in the media battle in Syria.

Quick hits from the media world: A prominent blogger is jailed in Egypt for writing critically about the military council; Israeli whistleblower Anat Kam is handed a jail sentence; a Nigerian Islamic group claims responsibility for the murder of a cameraman; and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s legal problems take a turn for the worse.

When you think of video games, you are more likely to think of war games than war correspondents. But a new genre is bringing the two together and creating a new way to present complex news stories. With its attention to detail and engaging visuals, news-games are becoming an effective tool in reporting a story that does not fit into a regular news package. The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead reports on an interactive news experience that is putting players on the frontline.

Our Internet Video of the Week feels like a nostalgic walk down video gaming memory lane. One More Production is a visual effects company based in France, but its video – called Pixels – is set in New York. It shows the city being invaded by an array of blockbuster arcade games. Try and see how many games you can spot. We hope you enjoy the show.

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