The War in Syria Will Become a Shameful Page in the History of the U.S Media

American Journalist Steven Kinzer

By Fort Russ
Global Research, February 23, 2016
Fort Russ and RT (Russian) 20 February 2016
Region:
Theme: , ,
In-depth Report:

According to the official information provided by the media of the United States, Bashar al-Assad, Russia and Iran are villains: thus the American media urges support for the actions of the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to achieve peace in the region. This point of view is absolutely contrary to what is happening in Syria, in fact, it will lead to the continuation of the war and civilian casualties. This was stated by journalist Stephen Kinzer, who called the coverage of events in Syria a “shameful page in the history of the American press”.

American journalists, following the official line of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, present the head of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and also Russia and Iran as villains. They support, according to U.S. media,  Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This position, which is due to the deliberate distortion of what is actually happening in Syria, will lead to the prolonging of the war and an even greater number of civilian casualties, writes the journalist of the newspaper the Boston Globe – Stephen Kinzer. According to him, coverage of the conflict in Syria will be one of the most shameful pages in the history of the media of the United States.

As the main example, Kinser gives the siege of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Within three years the town was ruled by militants, who have imposed cruel orders such as the ban on children attending school under the threat of death, the journalist notes. Terrorists destroyed factories in the hope that workers will go to them in search of work, and sold the seized equipment to Turkey. In February, the army of Syria with the support of the Russian airforce started pushing the militants out of the city, according to Kinzer.

The retreating militants in response shelled residential areas of Aleppo, with rockets and canisters of gas. This picture, said the journalist, does not match the official line of Washington. As a result, U.S. media reported that Aleppo was besieged by the governmental army of Syria with the support of Iran and Russia, writes Kinzer.

“This is nonsense, but do not blame the Americans for believing it. We do not have any information about the parties to the conflict, their goals or methods of action. The blame belongs to the American media,” — emphasizes Kinser on the pages of the Boston Globe.

Correspondents covering the war in Syria get information from the Pentagon, State Department, White House and their “experts”, believing they represent a lot of opinions on this issue. This type of activity that passes for news journalism, can only be described as shorthand, says Kinser.

“The official picture of events shockingly contradicts what is really going on, and maintaining this position will lead to the continuation of the conflict and condemn the innocent civilians of Syria to an even longer war and painful death,” concludes the columnist of the Boston Globe.

Translated by Ollie Richardson from Russian, for Fort Russ
Articles by: Fort Russ

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]