A narrow majority the Independence Party led by the incumbent Prime Minister remains the Biggest Party the president still hasnt asked him to form a government. Jane is here with the news grid in about half an hour i will see you at the usual times tomorrow up next here on aljazeera the listening post. You stand the differences. And the similarities of cultures across the. Aljazeera. U. S. Backed forces syria are celebrating their eyes rock rock. Rock. But i think im going to. Sit around and operation. Hello im richard disparate and youre at the listening post this week were examining the media in and around syria starting with spin city the Islamic State abandons rocca leaving the story in the hands of International Journalists lebanon has more refugees per capita than any other country and the Media Coverage of them can smack of sensationalism and zina phobia in spain madrid moves against the biggest player on the catalonian airwaves t. V. Three and Chinese Media and a Young American all singing from the same song. We begin with the fall of rock of the syrian city captured by Islamic State forces more than three years ago rocco was the capital of what i still called its caliph it as such it was the dateline behind some of the most brutal imagery of the syrian war square at the heart of the city was the site of summary executions and beheadings that the group then fed to the world in the form of propaganda when the Syrian Democratic forces finally rolled into that square a week and a half ago many of the western journalists traveling with them told a story of triumph liberation however the contours of this story are shaped by the interests of the countries involved the taking of rockabye us. Backed kurdish led troops is seen very differently in media reports coming out of russia turkey iran and a government held damascus six years into this war the story is no less foggy and the truth remains elusive our starting point this week is whats left of iraq as seen through the eyes of a drone camera documenting the destruction. Of. Drone footage gives you the illusion that you have a birds eye view that you see everything and in reality its just another perspective that is mediated by the knowledge of the real story is continued to be hidden if i speak costly destructive beyond imagination as these exclusive pictures film. Humanizes what we are looking at and the absence of people. Adds to the sense of detachment and used to be one of syrias largest cities but is now little more than the rubble this kind of video game image of a destroyed city that most people cannot even relate to it seems like it is fiction the way. In front the more you think you know based on this sort of drawn footage the less you actually know about the details. In other words context matters consider the difference between how the form of raka has been covered by various news organizations the black ice is black was replaced by the battle of the u. S. Backed forces compared to how they reported the fall of aleppo. Fifteen months ago so almost slowed by regime and Russian Forces crushing whats left of the rebel east aleppo had been held by Syrian Opposition forces including the Al Qaeda Affiliated all nusra front rocket. It was in the hands of isis the bombs dropped on aleppo were russian clearing the way for Syrian Government troops those targeting rocka were american the Ground Forces were led by kurdish fighters on the aleppo story the bulk of the questions about civilian casualties the deaths of innocents came from western media reports that forces loyal to syrian president Bashar Al Assad and backed by russia executed at least eighty two innocent civilians with roca those same kinds of questions are being asked by the other side pictures from rock on exactly give us a sense of success its a virtual ghost city the destruction you can see here of course while i still love militia shelling a vast coalition apple bods. Mainstream media narratives are ideologically driven and i think much of the American Media was supporting the american governments goals in iraq which were to uproot myself a senior syrian commanders as u. S. Backed forces have liberated the city of rocket from isis terrorists and anything that might mitigate against the celebration of that event fighters from the Syrian Democratic forces are dancing and they are chanting in history the suffering of people the destruction of buildings by forces might have put a damper on the great achievements of the s. D. F. If you look at the way that Russian Media has reported the story they have questioned about who is responsible for what happened in iraq after all this destruction if you look at syrian media it has not been a main story on an on Syrian National t. V. For instance if we just talk about the visitors of the media what you see now is kurdish fighters with kurdish flags dancing in the main square of. This serious national t. V. Is focusing on battles that are happening and that is what i said last buffy that is not a. Dies because the syrian army is more active in that area major war on terror u. S. Backed forces taking over isis is home base and rock in terms of mainstream us media was couched in the language of the terry its couched in the language of fighting terrorism and there is very little of a wireless of the fact that in the end syria is being destroyed and forces are continuing the destruction that the regime has started. When arsenal captured iraq in january of two thousand and fourteen reporters were banished from the city leaving the story to citizen journalists sites like rock is being slaughtered silently our b. S. S. Operated under incredibly dangerous conditions most of our b. S. S. Has contributors who were forced to flee and continued their work in exile they know the story and their recent posts on the fall of iraq are considerably less celebratory than what has appeared in western Media Outlets. Theyre tweeting many of these concerns about you know what happens next who exactly are the s. D. F. And how will they treat the city when many of them dont even speak arabic so all of the concerns are are very much apparent in tweet after tweet after tweet all very readily accessible to us and western news media and yet theyre really fairly invisible. Stuck them with militias use the media for propaganda just like other fact i met a foreign journalist and he told me that once he got to record they took his passport and they were with him the whole time so you had no freedom to speak to any citizens so theyre forcing the media and especially the journalists to winter. They control to published reports in the way that they want. The fight against terrorism that the western media focus on has included a significant media component this past july the pentagon confirmed it had killed six i saw media operatives in targeted strikes including ryann mashal the founder of the groups a mock news agency when i saw was on the rise its online media machine produced some sophisticated propaganda which was critical to its recruiting efforts but over the past eighteen months i suppose media output has fallen off by ninety percent like its forces on the ground surrendering territory its forces online have been in retreat the messaging has also changed with the times. The unique thing about i ask compared to other militant groups is that it declared a caliphate and a lot of propaganda was based on control of territory. If we remember how they changed their name to the Islamic State just to say that they will expand their control of the territories so now with this element of territorial control they certainly have to justify it in new ways isis. As a physical center for the generation of propaganda. Does this from underground locations in the desert between iraq and syria and this locations remain under the control of isis so the propaganda continues but the propaganda has certainly transformed in terms of content. In the last few months their approach changed instead of a call to come and join the battle it is a call to supporters no matter where they are to commit terrorist attacks. You could feel out. There saying if we disappear from the ground we have to stay in your minds and in your thoughts its a call for other people to take this ideology and develop and. With a little. Some wars are fought in relative obscurity they fail to attract the coverage they deserve and the fighting and suffering last longer than necessary syria may be the opposite case in point some have called it the most documented war ever the interested parties american russian turkish iranian saudi cattery and of course syrian all come with Media Outlets attached embedded they can be part of the machinery truth can be a casualty of that and the enemy can become an accidental beneficial. In a way it shows that perhaps the strength of i as has been that it has so many enemies that it took so long to defeat i asked because it was never about i as it was more about the geopolitical interests of of the different countries. Other media stories that are on our radar this week the spanish governments response to the referendum in catalonia dismissing the separatist Regional Government there also includes moving to take control of one of the major Media Players in this conflict the barcelona based t. V. Three the measures proposed by the real horror government in madrid fall under article one fifty five of the spanish constitution and would empower the government to remove and replace those in charge of the channel which is partially funded by the Regional Government in catalonia and was clearly Pro Independence in its coverage the whole government says it wants to return public Media Outlets to neutrality an argument that would carry far more weight if the madrid based t. V. Which the real government controls wasnt clearly anti independence in its coverage t. V. News council a body made up of journalists tasked with ensuring objectivity at the channel said of the targeting of t. V. Three public Media Outlets should serve citizens never governments spains biggest newspaper defended the role of government through an editorial headlined the Democratic State responds following up on a story that we led with two weeks ago a news website in india that investigated the finances of a businessman closely tied to the Modi Government has been ordered by a court to back off the story the site is called the wire one of its reporters rohini singh scrutinize the suddenly booming finances of j i meet shah the son of Prime MinisterNarendra Modis right hand man. The injunction which was ordered by a lower court in gujarat the Prime Ministers home state was issued in conjunction with a Defamation Case that j. Shah filed against the wire rohini saying and editors at the wire have been summoned to appear in Court Next Month if convicted of defamation they could be sentenced to two years in prison the wire says it plans to challenge the injunction the Media Monitoring group the committee to protect journalists said rather than shutting down reporting by the wire indian authorities should take steps to change the country. Outdated defamation laws russian Authorities Say theyve opened an investigation into a case of attempted murder after a knife attack on a radio host who has been critical of the Kremlin Tatiana fellow going to howard who hosts a program on radio echo of moscow was stabbed in the neck by an assailant to breach station security and attacked her within the offices earlier this month one of russias state owned broadcasters rosia twenty four reported that the Radio Station had sought financial help from foreign sources ahead of the president ial elections that are five months away one man is in custody over the knife attack but according to Russian Police the stabbing was not political it was a case of hooliganism that turned into personal hatred and howards colleagues at the station called that assessment complete nonsense despite being owned by the energy giant gazprom which is a state owned Company Radio echo of moscow is one of the few broadcast outlets that remain critical of the kremlin Yulia Latynina another journalist at the station fled russia last month after an arson attack on her car. Part two of our syria related program now the coverage of the refugee story next door in lebanon and the resulting rise of what some are calling a fascist climate there a few months back a provocative article appeared in a leading french language newspaper in beirut lawdy only issue three hundred people put their names to it journalists activists and intellectuals they were protesting against the incitement of hatred against Syrian Refugees among those accused of creating that climate or the countrys highly politicized Media Outlets pick up a newspaper or turn on the t. V. And you might conclude that the problems that have plagued lebanon for years daily electricity cuts a lack of jobs pollution all began with the arrival of the refugees the toxic rhetoric often starts at the political level however since almost every news outlet in lebanon has some kind of political backing political affiliation that rhetoric then finds its way into the reporting the listening posts tarik naafi now on the fear and loathing of Syrian Refugees in lebanon. But. This is how Syrian Refugees up the trade on lebanese when. The scale of the story is undeniable two thousand one point five million theory and refuge in lebanon they now make up a quarter of the countrys population the added drain that influx puts on lebanon creaking infrastructure and. Its beyond dispute but lebanons problems did not begin nor do they end with refugee and on a story that requires a new on. There is often little to be found not a lady there but also to feel a kid. That she has now where im being and even. At the very beginning of the conflict. Media outlets that were close to the Syrian Opposition were very open to the idea of lebanon welcoming refugees whereas Media Outlets that were close to the assad regime spoke about the refugees with very negative terms unfortunately that narrative became more prominent and managed to convince more people as the refugee crisis kept growing over time in the beginning they would call syrians or refugees but over time you start to use the term now is whats placed as if they want to make sure that syrians are just a temporary thing every day we have a story that crosses the line whether through you whether through campaigns whether through political satire programs or comedy you know. All of my bad reporting has become the norm one of the latest stories from m. T. V. Is about i mean in tripoli where you have all these small you know shops or kiosks on the beachfront and theres a story that theyve turned into places for advice where all the bad things can be sold on board stories like that are published again without any verification have you sent anyone there do you have any figures do you have any witness reports nothing it was just reported as a fact under but i want to tell you where m. T. V. Stands we have no negative stances against displaced syrians but its people who work in media we have a duty to shine a light on problems that are present with some of those who are just plain. M. T. V. s editor in chief says he doesnt recognize any bias in his channels reporting but the review of lebanese media does show a Significant Impact in two thousand and fifteen the beirut based my Heart Foundation study the three week sample of refugees. Coverage it found lebanons print media focused far more on Security Issues and the button of asylum than in things like integration exploitation or the rights of refugees the same was true of t. V. Coverage where more time was given to rest and security procedures than other stories however it wasnt only the negative framing it was the source of the study found that journalists often simply republished reports exactly as they receive them from the security. Suddenly have this idea the reader has an idea that these criminals are serious the drug dealers the weapons dealers the cases of rape and Sexual Harassment all coming from syria. At the moment. There but thats because theyre picking and choosing from the reports coming from the Security Service if you go to any of the security about celebrity look at their arrest warrants and reports you have lots of lebanese people there but the media focus on the syrians because it fits into this narrative about how syrians are basically the reason lebanon is. With so much a series of operations along the border with syria heightened fears about the threats posed by refugee fed a narrative that equates them with terrorists it began with two raids on refugee camps in our fat west soldiers were attacked by suicide bombers. Hundreds of syrians were rounded up in response for died in the armys custody and allegations that the men were tortured were dismissed. The army has a kind of revered status and levanon that often puts it beyond criticism in a country divided by sect and religion is seen as one of the few symbols of unity in the weeks following the raid protests were banned hate speech spite and critics of the army faced harassment. But obama in but when i lift out of habit this city has been jaisha took many an ordeal a message circulated on what some are calling on lebanese citizens to defend the armies on a. Serious street. This was the kind that hates playing with here from some of the extreme parties during civil war which call for palestinians to leave entirely or that he was for supporting israel to wipe out palestinians from lebanon after that audio message came out there were two cases of syrians being beaten up. Well. The Police Identified these men through the videos and they were arrested for their internet into this big wave of attacks on syrians however toxins are still happen theyre often not documented as so this is not a new phenomenon. Lebanese politicians condemned those particular cases of hate speech and violence but they have a track record of inciting the very same kind of fear of syria today you know we have a shot a little. Theres. Also you know many here now now including you could believe in lebanon politicians dont have to look far for a friendly voice in the media the man holding the three highest positions of power in the country the president the Prime Minister and the speaker of parliament all own a Television Channel when high profile politicians use refugees to deflect from their own shortcomings hyping up the existential demographic threats facing lebanon those fears are eventually reproduced in the media in some cases stories like this one of proving to be outright lies but not before the damage has been done we have an issue when it comes to how Media Outlets is talking about Syrian Refugees the negative approach is dominant but that is because of the political this house and a lot of these outlets are encouraged by how politicians are talking about refugees they are in cottage how one is a pilot is out of banning Syrian Refugees from moving around they are imposing curfews on Syrian Refugees and nobody is stopping them so the media reflects that. Given the structural makeup of media levanon separating journalism from politics is easier said than done what reporters can control is how they speak about the most marginalised people in society because when it comes to racism the hatred of the other doesnt stop with Syrian Refugees we know deep well how people. Speak about Palestinian Refugees the huge problem related to Domestic Workers in lebanon coming from south asia or from africa the fact that our country is somehow tolerant to racism is a very very important problem and unfortunately the media is not playing its true and actually educating citizens and trying to shift the debate to a more rational place this is a very very negative indicator of where our Media Outlets are heading. Finally in china the real action of xi jinping is general secretary of the communist party was Headline News in every newspaper what struck us however was how uniform the front pages of state owned papers were from the layout right down to the images used none of that would have bothered dylan walker though hes a Young American communist a sign a file who appeared on a chinese talent show a few weeks back singing and owed to the great leader is vision for the country will leave you with dylans dulcet tones and a medley of made to order front pages the visuals are a tad repetitive but thats kind of the point was the next time youre at the listening post. Its. The nature of news as it breaks because you can see there in the distance all shia militia vehicles that you can see on the horizon there the peshmerga telling us are actually tanks with detailed coverage when the mine closed in one thousand nine hundred four many people lost their jobs davening is making money from around the world this is supposed to last for a month but people tell us that it only lasts for eight days if you look around this is the only food available in this household. Or is it a listen when theyre on line we were in hurricane winds for almost like thirty six hours these are the things that has to address or if you join us on sect im a member of a complex one but we struck up a relationship this is a dialogue tweet us with hostile a. J. Stream and one of your pitches might make the next show join the global conversation at this time on aljazeera. Zero one. Where every. This is. From studio fourteen. Causes and welcome to the news good protesting to stay united hundreds of