German Journalist Who Exposed Govt Instruction in Media Coverage Faces Backlash

How the media controls the message

and why few people trust them anymore

German freelance reporter Claudia Zimmermann © RT

Rejected contributions, boycott calls and a public letter refuting her words were some of the tactics freelance reporter Claudia Zimmermann faced after exposing her employer, German public broadcaster WDR, for sticking to pro-government narrative on migrant crisis.

Speaking to RT Deutsch, Zimmermann said she fell out of grace with the bosses of WRD, which is part of the ARD group of Germany’s regional public-service broadcasters, after she revealed the pressure on the employees to refrain from criticism of German Chancellor’s Angela Merkel controversial “open door” policy towards refugees.

“We are a public broadcaster, we are paid with tax money and that means we interpret the government’s view and not that of the opposition,” Zimmermann said in an interview to Dutch radio station L1 Limburg in January 2016, adding that it was expected from WRD to cover Merkel’s migrant policy “in a more positive way.”

“There are various committees that determine the program policies, which instructed the editors to support the Merkel government policy,” she said.

‘I stand by what I said on migrant coverage’

The interview went on air on the heels of New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne that were initially blamed on asylum seekers of North African and Middle Eastern origin. The violent attacks sparked outrage with the German public and opposition, highlighting the growing dismay with the “welcoming” approach, personally propelled by Merkel.

After Zimmermann’s insight into the WRD’s story selection started making rounds in German and international media, she was contacted by the broadcaster which sought to “minimize the damage” to its reputation. Although Zimmermann agreed and apologized, saying that she was “talking nonsense” while being “under pressure of live broadcast”, she told RT Deutsch that her repentance refers only to her failure to clarify the functions of Germany’s Broadcasting Council during the interview.

As for the essence of her message, Zimmermann says she stands completely by her words.

“In the media, not only in WDR, Merkel’s migrant policy received a very strong backing by journalists. Some journalists, including me, tried to offer more critical topics, but they weren’t approved,” she said.

“I haven’t apologized for my actual words. I have never disavowed them and I don’t disavow them now,” she said, noting that contrary to reports by some media, she has never mentioned receiving any “written instructions” from the government.

“It would have been too obvious and would have sparked a protest. The thing is, as I have already said before, pressure comes from above. Unfavorable topics are simply not greenlighted. So a journalist does not have even a chance to offer such a topic,” she said.  

‘Colleagues advised to boycott’

While WDR publicly vowed not to sack Zimmermann and followed through with its promise up to this moment, many of her contributions have been since turned down. She noticed that some of her rejected topics were handed to other WRD journalists.

“I even complained about it,” Zimmermann said, noting that the topics she had covered for years, completely unrelated to politics, like international art fairs, suddenly changed hands.

Moreover, the journalist noted that she has been silently ostracized by WDR, saying that the broadcaster recommended her colleagues to steer clear of her and sign a public letter praising the company’s integrity and denouncing her remarks. 

“The funniest part in this story was that the half of all employees did not sign this letter. There was a heated internal discussion among the employees,” Zimmerman said, adding that despite the majority refused to put down their signatures, some media outlets portrayed it as through it was a unanimous condemnation.

“I know that they, in WRD, asked that employees don’t have any contact with me, don’t talk to me. I was told so,” she said, adding that some of her colleagues have continued to back her in private while having to keep a distance in public.

‘One-sided coverage on Russia & Syria’

Speaking on instances of biased coverage in German media in general, Zimmermann said she believes the media are telling only one side of the story when covering Russia-related topics and its reunification with Crimea, in particular.

“I would like the coverage of this issue to be far more substantial and balanced,” she said.

The same could be observed in the way the German media is handling the Syrian conflict, Zimmermann said. She spoke about a colleague who last year proposed to make a story about the other side of Syria’s life, not scarred by the war.

“She wanted to tell about a beautiful Syria. About its beauty, about the way they celebrate holidays and that the war is not everywhere,”Zimmermann said, adding that her colleague was discouraged by the rejection.

“It means they needed only war reports on Syria, not beautiful images. I believe it is also a kind of a one-sided coverage.”

Most media outlets in the western world are run by liberals and are loath to report anything that goes against the liberal propaganda agenda. I'm fine with reporting the faults, and they are many, of Putin, Al Assad, and their like, but honest reporting would also allow the reporting of good news stories from Russia and Syria as well as criticism of leftist leaders and their hair-brained ideas. Rarely do you ever see that!

“Islam Can’t be Modernized,” says World’s “Greatest Arabic Poet”

“When asked if he receives death threats from radical Islamists Adonis said: ‘Of course, but I do not care. For certain convictions people should risk their lives.'” Bravo.

Adunis Asbar (Adonis)

“‘Islam Can’t Be Modernised’ Says World’s ‘Greatest Arabic Poet,’” by Chris Tomlinson, Breitbart, 

The writer regarded as the greatest Arabic language poet alive today has said Islam cannot be modernised.

Adunis Asbar, known by his pen name Adonis, is a Syrian-born writer often considered one of the greatest living poets of the Arabic language. He has come under criticism for comments he made recently about Islam before receiving the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize, named after the famous pacifist and author of the classic World War One novel ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’.

In an interview with Die Welt he talked about one of the most pressing issues in Germany since the migrant crisis began, the idea of being able to integrate migrants from predominately Muslim countries into European societies.

Being raised a Muslim himself and having one of the greatest understandings of the language of the Quran, Adonis said: “You can not reform a religion. If they are reformed, [the original meaning] is separated from it. Therefore, modern Muslims and a modern Islam is already impossible. If there is no separation between religion and state, there will be no democracy especially without equality for women. Then we will keep a theocratic system. So it will end.”

Laying down a heavy critique of the Islamic world, he added: “Arabs have no more creative force. Islam does not contribute to intellectual life, it suggests no discussion. It is no longer thought. It produces no thinking, no art, no science, no vision that could change the world. This repetition is the sign of its end. The Arabs will continue to exist, but they will not make the world better.”

The remarks are in reference to the broader questions of how he sees the Middle East, and specifically his native Syria which has been in a state of civil war for years. Adonis describes the totality of Islam in the life of people in the Islamic world saying Muslim society is “based on a totalitarian system. The religion dictates everything: How to run, how to go to the toilet, who one has to love…”…

“I have long been an opponent of Assad. The Assad regime has transformed the country into a prison. But his opponents, the so-called revolutionaries, commit mass murder, cut people’s heads off, sell women in cages as goods and trample human dignity underfoot.”

Adonis was referring to the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra front (an Al Qaeda affiliate) who have become the largest opposition force to Assad over the course of the civil war.

Breitbart London has already reported that attempts to house and integrate Muslim migrants will cost Germans and other European countries billions of euros, and according to Adonis’ opinion it could be a useless endeavour.

When asked if he receives death threats from radical Islamists Adonis said: “Of course, but I do not care. For certain convictions people should risk their lives.”

US Training Fighters and Dropping Leaflets in Syria

US begins training Syrian rebels to fight ISIL group

US defence secretary says 90 moderate Syrian rebels have begun training
in Jordan to fight against armed group.  [AP]

Al Jezeera

The United States has begun training moderate Syrian rebels as part of an effort to build a force capable of fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Ash Carter, the US defence secretary, said on Thursday that the US military had begun training around 90 Syrian fighters in Jordan.

"Combat training has begun for a company-sized group from the new Syrian forces," Carter told reporters. "This programme is critical and a complex part of our counter-ISIL efforts."

The US plans to train and arm a force that is expected to eventually total more than 15,000 troops. So far, more than 3,750 Syrian fighters have volunteered for the training, and about 400 have completed the pre-screening.

The rebels, who come from several moderate groups in Syria, will get training on basic military equipment and skills, including firearms, communications and command and control abilities.

Part of the strategy, according to documents seen by the Reuters news agency, is to pressure President Bashar al-Assad by steadily increasing the opposition's prowess and territory under its control.

Proponents of the US military programme note Assad is already facing growing pressure after government forces endured a series of setbacks on the battlefield and ISIL fighters edge closer to Assad's stronghold in the coastal areas.

General Martin Dempsey, the top US military officer, said he believed Assad's "momentum has been slowed".

Some rebels sceptical

However, the programme faces deep scepticism, including from rebels fighting inside Syria. Some rebel leaders say the force risks creating divisions and cannot succeed without directly targeting Syrian government forces.

The US Congress has approved $500m to train about 5,000 Syrian fighters in a year's time.
About 1,000 US troops are expected to help with the training and 450 forces from the US-led coalition have already deployed for the effort, officials said.

Turkey has said it will start training rebels on its soil this weekend, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey also expected to train the moderate fighters.

The US launched targeted air strikes against ISIL in Iraq last August, and in September expanded the campaign into Syria.

The group has declared a 'Caliphate' in territory across much of Iraq and Syria, and its rule has been marked by a brutal campaign of mass murders, beheadings, torture and slavery.

According to Xinhua, the US will also be supplying those troops with up-to-date equipment.

The US drops gruesome propaganda leaflets on Raqqa

The US military is dropping some gruesome propaganda on Syria. - in an obvious attempt to demonize ISIS. However, ISIS is quite capable of demonizing itself. Will the leaflet deter anyone from joining ISIS? It is doubtful; most men in Raqqa don't have much choice in the matter.

On March 16 an F-15E fighter jet dropped 60,000 copies of the above leaflet on Raqqa, the base of operations for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

The image shows a "Daesh Employment Office" (Daesh is a pejorative nickname for ISIL in the Arab world).

Two ISIL recruiters, one of whom appears more monster than man, feed young men into a meat grinder with "Daesh" written in blood on its side. A sign in the upper-right corner reads "Now Serving Number 6,001".


When asked about the intended message of the leaflet, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren, said "If you allow yourself to be recruited by Daesh, you will find yourself in a meat grinder."

The metaphor is pretty good, actually. ISIS needs a steady stream of recruits to replace the steady stream of fallen fighters. It's very much like "in one end, and out the other".

Syria Regime in Greater Peril Than any Time

Growing strains on Al Assad’s manpower becoming obvious, magnitude of losses are too big to hide

Rebel fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement cover their ears
during the launch of grad rockets from Idlib countryside towards forces loyal
 to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who are stationed at
Jureen town in al-Ghab plain in the Hama countryside

BY LIZ SLY, WASHINGTON POST

Beirut: A surge of rebel gains in Syria is overturning long-held assumptions about the durability of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime, which now appears in greater peril than at any time in the past three years.

The capture on April 25 of the town of Jisr Al Shughour in northern Idlib province was just the latest in a string of battlefield victories by rebel forces, which have made significant advances in both the north and the south of the country.

As was the case in the capital of Idlib province last month, government defences in Jisr Al Shughour crumbled after just a few days of fighting, pointing as much to the growing weakness of regime forces as the revival of the opposition.

The battlefield shifts come at a time when the Obama administration has set aside Daesh (IS) in Syria to focus on its chief priorities: defeating Daesh in Iraq and concluding a nuclear deal with Iran.

Yet the pace of events in Syria may force the United States to refocus on the unresolved war, which remains at the heart of the turmoil engulfing the Middle East, analysts say. Iran backs Al Assad, Saudi Arabia backs the rebels, and a shift in the balance of power in Syria could have profound repercussions for the conflicts in Iraq and Yemen.

Game Changer

“We’re seeing a game changer right now in Syria,” said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist. “I think we are going to see an end to the Al Assad regime, and we have to think now about what will happen the day after, because the day after is near.”

Other observers say the prospect of a government collapse in Damascus is still remote. The capital is well defended, and the rebels’ gains have come mostly on the periphery of the country, where the regime’s supply lines are stretched.

But perceptions that Al Assad will survive indefinitely or serve at least as an interim counterbalance to Daesh and its strongholds in northeastern Syria are in doubt, said Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The growing strains on Al Assad’s manpower and resources “are becoming extremely obvious, and the magnitude of his losses are now too big to hide,” Hokayem said.

“This destroys the narrative that he is winning, which he was counting on, and also the argument that he is the best option against Daesh,” the analyst added. “If he’s not able to take on or even defend against the rebels, he’s going to have a hard time presenting himself as able to fight Daesh.”

The revival of rebel fortunes is attributed to a large degree on the recent rapprochement between a newly assertive Saudi Arabia and its erstwhile rivals for influence over the rebels — Turkey and Qatar.

Since inheriting the throne in January, Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has moved forcefully to challenge the expanding regional influence of Iran, Saudi Arabia’s biggest foe, most publicly by embarking on an air war against Houthi militiamen in Yemen. He has also acted to shore up the flagging and deeply divided rebels in Syria against the Iranian-backed Al Assad, in coordination with Qatar and Turkey, Khashoggi said.

Saudi Arabian air strike

‘Major rifts’

The result has been an unexpectedly cohesive rebel coalition called the Army of Conquest that is made up of Al Qaida affiliate Jabhat Al Nusra, an assortment of mostly Islamist brigades, and a small number of more moderate battalions. The coalition, which launched last month, has proved more effective than expected.

After seizing most of Idlib province in recent weeks, the rebels are pressing south toward the government strongholds of Hama and Homs and are threatening the Al Assad family’s coastal heartland of Latakia. A separate, more moderate rebel coalition has been making swift advances in the south, challenging government control over the key provincial capital of Daraa and making progress north toward Damascus.

Just as significantly, government forces have been proving increasingly ineffective. The collapse of two much-trumpeted offensives earlier this year, in southern Syria and in Aleppo, presaged the success of the recent rebel offensives, suggesting that even if the government can remain in control in Damascus, its chances of regaining the rest of the country are slipping.

There are signs that the regime itself is fraying under the strain of the four-year-old war. On Friday, pro-government news outlets reported the death of political security director Rustom Gazaleh, a longtime Al Assad stalwart, after months of rumours that he had fallen out with the regime, been badly beaten up by a rival and was languishing in hospital.

The reports followed the firing last month of the military intelligence chief, Rafiq Shehadeh, another inner-circle loyalist. Western diplomats monitoring events in Syria from Beirut say the two men appear to have clashed with the Al Assad family over the growing battlefield role played by Iran.

The tensions are reaching into the heart of the Al Assad family, whose four-decade-old rule had seemed unshakeable until the revolt erupted in 2011.

Hafez Makhlouf, Al Assad’s cousin, was fired late last year as head of security in the province of Damascus and has since fled the country, the diplomats say. Another cousin, Munzer Al Assad, was detained this month amid rumours that he had been plotting a coup.

Sudden collapse possible

“It looks like there are major rifts going on inside the Al Assad regime,” one of the diplomats said. “A military collapse on the regime side is not impossible.”

Much will depend on Iran, which has stepped up in the past to dispatch men, money and arms whenever Al Assad seemed to be faltering. But Iran is stretched, too, by the economic effects of continued international sanctions and by the competing demands of the war next door in Iraq, which has diverted some of the Iraqi militias that had been fighting for the regime in Syria.

In a commentary for the Middle East Institute in the past week, Robert Ford, a former US envoy to Syria, said a regime collapse cannot be ruled out. The regime’s schisms, its battlefield setbacks and its manpower shortages “are all signs of weakness,” he wrote. “We may be seeing signs of the beginning of their end.”

Then what?

That's the big question. What or who will take Al Assad's place if and when he falls? Will he align with Iran, with Saudi Arabia, with Daesh, or none of the above? The only thing I would take odds on right now, is that whatever happens, it will probably be worse than anyone expects. Wait, darn, my glass is half empty already.