A series of information campaigns have turned Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad into an “evil dictator”, and terrorists into the opposition. Materials appearing in the network expose a large propaganda network of Western governments.
The GrayZone investigative journalism team presented a report on how the US and other Western countries financed the distribution of publications in support of Syrian militants in the media. This went so far as to ensure that the Western curators controlled personnel issues in media like the BBC and Al-Jazeera.
Companies that worked with Western governments created their own pseudo donations and broadcast the
m on Middle Eastern television channels. By carefully filtering information, they created a concrete vision of the armed conflict in Syria. In this way, the West tried to please the jihadists in order to gain their support.
Analysis Research Knowledge played an important role in this process. An NGO funded by the British government was developing a “basic narrative for the Syrian opposition”.
Journalists found out how the US found common ground with the Syrian militants.
“During the six months preceding the widely supported opposition’s speech at the Geneva talks in early 2014, ARK worked closely with the Syrian opposition, to a large extent to enhance their strategic communications capabilities”, – says one of the organisation’s documents.
In particular, ARK organised a complex PR campaign to rebrand the Free Syrian Army armed group. To separate it from other terrorist groups in the information space, the FSA was presented as a disciplined and professional military organization.