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AGAINST ALL ODDS, FEMALE REPORTERS LEAD IN SYRIA
The News Today (Bangladesh.)
September 4, 2013 Wednesday
Women both domestic and foreign are bringing to light the untold
stories of Syria's brutal civil war. Still audible through the
increasingly sectarian cacophony of Syria's ongoing civil war, a
small but influential group of Syrian and foreign women are telling
the stories of the country's destruction in unique and meaningful ways.
Present in all aspects of the conflict, women are penning the history
of Syria.
>From the very beginnings of the initial and peaceful opposition to
Bashar al-Assad's Baathist regime, Syrian women have played a powerful
role. Samar Yazbek, a female Syrian writer and journalist-herself an
Alawite, a member of a religious group traditionally associated with
the regime-was among the women who initiated oppositional activism.
Women, she says, were among the first who went out and protested:
"They organized these protests, formed coordinations and organizational
bodies."
According to Yazbek, as the peaceful protests turned to armed
resistance and then into civil war, the role of women in the conflict
changed. "Syrian women didn't pick up arms, but kept helping the
revolution by documenting violations, organizing, writing and in
the media."
Nour Kelze, a young photographer from Aleppo, is one of these women.
An English teacher before the revolution, she began documenting
the revolution with her cellphone before being given a camera by a
professional photographer. She now spends her days on the front lines
as photo stringer for Reuters.
The visible role of women in the early stages of the uprising is what
drew American reporter Anna Day to the conflict, which she has been
covering for two years. She says her involvement was mobilized by
her original connections with women in the resistance via social media.
"It was exciting, and as a young woman myself, I was incredibly
inspired and felt privileged to tell the story of my peers in Syria
fighting for their rights."
Historically, Syria has a reputation for being a more equal society
for women than other Arabic-speaking countries. This attitude, combined
with the absence of sexual violence like that faced by female reporters
covering Egypt and of the inherently male-dominated and militarily
embedded reporting of the Afghan and Iraqi wars, means the Syrian
conflict has drawn an unprecedented number of female foreign reporters.
For some, like journalist Jenan Moussa, based in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, or American reporter Clarissa Ward, the conflict has
brought them wide acclaim. Others haven't been so fortunate. Sunday
Times journalist Marie Colvin was killed by shelling in Homs during
the early days of the war, and just over a year later, Yara Abbas,
a prominent female war reporter for Syrian state-owned Al-Ikhbariyah
TV, was murdered by sniper fire in the same province.
Armenian-American journalist Lara Setrakian, founder of the digital
media project Syria Deeply, says gender is not a disadvantage in
reporting in the dangerous and unforgiving environment. "I think
at this point it is a fallacy to assume that women cannot approach
rebels or even rebel commanders in the field. I don't think there is
any gender barrier to accessing people involved in this conflict."
In fact, Setrakian says, women bring a unique approach to the story.
She cites female reporters' unwavering dedication to the ongoing
conflict and says those she works with are "extremely patient and
diligent." Comparing the Syrian conflict to a patient to a chronic
illness, she says this approach is essential. "You don't just leave the
patient while it's breathing. You pay attention. The women journalists
I've seen working in Syria have that kind of consistency and ethic."
In conflict, women often bear the brunt of tremendous amounts of
suffering while attempting to maintain family life-and Syria is no
exception. For Yazbek, the most tragic stories are those of women
who struggle to preserve a normal home existence despite the violence.
"Most important are the women who still live out a normal life
under the shelling," she says. Women reporters are usually those who
represent female civilians' stories. Yazbek and Day try to give these
women a voice in their reporting.
The conflict has also brought suffering to the Syrian journalists
and activists covering it. Last month Human Rights Watch released a
report detailing the torture suffered by 10 female activists in Syria.
Accordingly, for Yazbek, Syria is no longer her physical home-she has
been living in exile in Paris since 2011. "I don't live in a place
now, I live in the idea of a country and a revolution. My home is
my own head, filled with blood, the cries of children, and with the
sound of airplane bombs."
For Kelze, the price of war was physical. In February she was hit by
shelling and broke her leg. "The shell hit the wall that I was using
as a shelter to cover myself. There was half of a second when I felt
like all I could see was black." She said about the incident: "I tried
to stand up when I realized that there was a problem with my leg."
Even in the immediate aftermath of her injury, Kelze's first instinct
was to tell the story: "I kept shouting, 'Where is my camera?'"
For Western journalists, the impact of covering the conflict has
been a desire to find creative ways to tell the story. Frustrated by
lack of coverage and the limits of mainstream news, Setrakian left
a successful reporting job to start Syria Deeply. The online project
compiles news, interviews, social media, and background information
to provide a detailed picture of the conflict.
"I could see that this was a chronic story. It's hard to follow,
and it's a very complex crisis. I was reporting to television, radio,
and Web, and I could see that across those platforms we still weren't
really capturing the essence of what was happening." She continues
to develop the Syria Deeply platform and hopes to expand it to other
news subjects in the future.
Day, shocked by apathy from both news outlets and audiences, has
used social media to change the way she tells stories. "I did one
experiment where I shared Instagram photos that showed snippets of
some of the most haunting stories I covered over the course of an
assignment." Her project created a cohesive narrative arc focused
on the civilian catastrophe, she says: "I found this brief but
personalized way of telling the story to be effective in piquing the
interest of people in my networks that may not follow world politics."
As the conflict drags well into its third year with little sign of
resolution, these dedicated women from varied backgrounds and nations
all want to keep working to find new ways to get people to listen.
Each has a different hope for Syria and for herself. Yazbek laments
the rise in sectarianism, which she blames on regime strategy. She
insists she will return to Syria and be involved in the reconstruction
of the country she has sacrificed so much for. Of herself, she says:
"I have only one dream: the fall of Bashar."
The News Today (Bangladesh.)
September 4, 2013 Wednesday
Women both domestic and foreign are bringing to light the untold
stories of Syria's brutal civil war. Still audible through the
increasingly sectarian cacophony of Syria's ongoing civil war, a
small but influential group of Syrian and foreign women are telling
the stories of the country's destruction in unique and meaningful ways.
Present in all aspects of the conflict, women are penning the history
of Syria.
>From the very beginnings of the initial and peaceful opposition to
Bashar al-Assad's Baathist regime, Syrian women have played a powerful
role. Samar Yazbek, a female Syrian writer and journalist-herself an
Alawite, a member of a religious group traditionally associated with
the regime-was among the women who initiated oppositional activism.
Women, she says, were among the first who went out and protested:
"They organized these protests, formed coordinations and organizational
bodies."
According to Yazbek, as the peaceful protests turned to armed
resistance and then into civil war, the role of women in the conflict
changed. "Syrian women didn't pick up arms, but kept helping the
revolution by documenting violations, organizing, writing and in
the media."
Nour Kelze, a young photographer from Aleppo, is one of these women.
An English teacher before the revolution, she began documenting
the revolution with her cellphone before being given a camera by a
professional photographer. She now spends her days on the front lines
as photo stringer for Reuters.
The visible role of women in the early stages of the uprising is what
drew American reporter Anna Day to the conflict, which she has been
covering for two years. She says her involvement was mobilized by
her original connections with women in the resistance via social media.
"It was exciting, and as a young woman myself, I was incredibly
inspired and felt privileged to tell the story of my peers in Syria
fighting for their rights."
Historically, Syria has a reputation for being a more equal society
for women than other Arabic-speaking countries. This attitude, combined
with the absence of sexual violence like that faced by female reporters
covering Egypt and of the inherently male-dominated and militarily
embedded reporting of the Afghan and Iraqi wars, means the Syrian
conflict has drawn an unprecedented number of female foreign reporters.
For some, like journalist Jenan Moussa, based in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, or American reporter Clarissa Ward, the conflict has
brought them wide acclaim. Others haven't been so fortunate. Sunday
Times journalist Marie Colvin was killed by shelling in Homs during
the early days of the war, and just over a year later, Yara Abbas,
a prominent female war reporter for Syrian state-owned Al-Ikhbariyah
TV, was murdered by sniper fire in the same province.
Armenian-American journalist Lara Setrakian, founder of the digital
media project Syria Deeply, says gender is not a disadvantage in
reporting in the dangerous and unforgiving environment. "I think
at this point it is a fallacy to assume that women cannot approach
rebels or even rebel commanders in the field. I don't think there is
any gender barrier to accessing people involved in this conflict."
In fact, Setrakian says, women bring a unique approach to the story.
She cites female reporters' unwavering dedication to the ongoing
conflict and says those she works with are "extremely patient and
diligent." Comparing the Syrian conflict to a patient to a chronic
illness, she says this approach is essential. "You don't just leave the
patient while it's breathing. You pay attention. The women journalists
I've seen working in Syria have that kind of consistency and ethic."
In conflict, women often bear the brunt of tremendous amounts of
suffering while attempting to maintain family life-and Syria is no
exception. For Yazbek, the most tragic stories are those of women
who struggle to preserve a normal home existence despite the violence.
"Most important are the women who still live out a normal life
under the shelling," she says. Women reporters are usually those who
represent female civilians' stories. Yazbek and Day try to give these
women a voice in their reporting.
The conflict has also brought suffering to the Syrian journalists
and activists covering it. Last month Human Rights Watch released a
report detailing the torture suffered by 10 female activists in Syria.
Accordingly, for Yazbek, Syria is no longer her physical home-she has
been living in exile in Paris since 2011. "I don't live in a place
now, I live in the idea of a country and a revolution. My home is
my own head, filled with blood, the cries of children, and with the
sound of airplane bombs."
For Kelze, the price of war was physical. In February she was hit by
shelling and broke her leg. "The shell hit the wall that I was using
as a shelter to cover myself. There was half of a second when I felt
like all I could see was black." She said about the incident: "I tried
to stand up when I realized that there was a problem with my leg."
Even in the immediate aftermath of her injury, Kelze's first instinct
was to tell the story: "I kept shouting, 'Where is my camera?'"
For Western journalists, the impact of covering the conflict has
been a desire to find creative ways to tell the story. Frustrated by
lack of coverage and the limits of mainstream news, Setrakian left
a successful reporting job to start Syria Deeply. The online project
compiles news, interviews, social media, and background information
to provide a detailed picture of the conflict.
"I could see that this was a chronic story. It's hard to follow,
and it's a very complex crisis. I was reporting to television, radio,
and Web, and I could see that across those platforms we still weren't
really capturing the essence of what was happening." She continues
to develop the Syria Deeply platform and hopes to expand it to other
news subjects in the future.
Day, shocked by apathy from both news outlets and audiences, has
used social media to change the way she tells stories. "I did one
experiment where I shared Instagram photos that showed snippets of
some of the most haunting stories I covered over the course of an
assignment." Her project created a cohesive narrative arc focused
on the civilian catastrophe, she says: "I found this brief but
personalized way of telling the story to be effective in piquing the
interest of people in my networks that may not follow world politics."
As the conflict drags well into its third year with little sign of
resolution, these dedicated women from varied backgrounds and nations
all want to keep working to find new ways to get people to listen.
Each has a different hope for Syria and for herself. Yazbek laments
the rise in sectarianism, which she blames on regime strategy. She
insists she will return to Syria and be involved in the reconstruction
of the country she has sacrificed so much for. Of herself, she says:
"I have only one dream: the fall of Bashar."