Thursday, 19 January 2012 07:48
'Suppose a respectable opinion poll found that most Syrians are in favour of Bashar al-Assad remaining as president, would that not be major news? Especially as the finding would go against the dominant narrative about the Syrian crisis, and the media considers the unexpected more newsworthy than the obvious.
Alas, not in every case. When coverage of an unfolding drama ceases to be fair and turns into a propaganda weapon, inconvenient facts get suppressed. So it is with the results of a recent YouGov Siraj poll on Syria commissioned by The Doha Debates, funded by the Qatar Foundation. Qatar's royal family has taken one of the most hawkish lines against Assad – the emir has just called for Arab troops to intervene – so it was good that The Doha Debates published the poll on its website. The pity is that it was ignored by almost all media outlets in every western country whose government has called for Assad to go.'
Read more: Most Syrians Back President Assad, But You'd Never Know From Western Media
Thursday, 19 January 2012 07:43
'As France gauges the international fallout from losing its triple-A credit rating, Sarkozy has called for the formation of an emergency jobs council to try and boost his dipping popularity at home ahead of presidential elections, which are to be held in two rounds in April and May.
After a four-hour-long meeting at the Elysée Palace with labor and business leaders, the president on Wednesday announced an EUR 430 million (USD 550 million) plan to reduce unemployment and restart economic growth.
On Wednesday, the protesters took to the streets of the capital to voice discontent over the measures included in the plan.'
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