Salam Kawakibi, of the Arab Reform Initiative and the University of Amsterdam, has produced two interesting papers about Syria: one on the media, the other on the internet.

The Private Media in Syria gives a brief history of the official media under the Baathist regime then looks in more detail at the tentative opening-up under President Bashar:

A new publishing law was passed in 2001, which allowed the private sector to re-enter the media industry, having been banned from it since 1963. Since then, over 250 publications have been approved. Few of them appear regularly, with only 25 to 30 being effectively published, which leaves plenty of room for a black market in approval permits. The sums changing hands are close to five million Syrian pounds (330,000 euros) per permit, with the actual cost not exceeding 25,000 pounds (16,000 euros). 

However, the relatively high number of approved publications since 2001 provides the Ministry of Information with an argument in its favour, which it uses every time the media situation in Syria is discussed. 

The media landscape has also been broadened by dozens of radio stations as well as two TV channels. However, even though the new law does not impose censorship as a prerequisite, it does remain very repressive and contains an arsenal of restrictions that complicate the work of journalists. It also affects all other forms of publication in Syria and entering the country from abroad, as well as printing presses, with sanctions ranging from fines to imprisonment.

Kawakibi's second paper, Internet or Enter-Not, contrasts the official policy of promoting internet use with the efforts to prevent its use for political and other non-approved purposes:

In parallel with this proactive policy of spreading computer literacy and widening internet access, all forms of state control over IT have been reinforced. Until 2003 all international sites offering an email service were blocked. This was intended to force users to use only local providers, which made them easier to monitor. 

Since then, with the ban changing day to day seemingly on a lottery basis, it has been a game of cat and mouse. Some IT specialists have managed to bypass bans by using special software. But this has not been a widespread phenomenon that might enable the populace to rid itself of its “fear” of using addresses hosted abroad. 

And yet the business cards of many politicians feature email addresses hosted outside Syria by such providers as Yahoo! and Hotmail – another contradiction.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 30 August 2010