The License of Al Domari (a weekly satirical Syrian newspaper) was revoked by the government this week.
Al Domari was the first (if I'm not wrong) privately owned newspaper that was completely edited and published in Syria, the newspaper is owned by Ali Farzat a well known cartoonist in the Arab World.
The revocation of the license is a sad news especially in Syria's new age where the people are looking for more freedom of speech, modernized new laws and more economic progress.
But as Jonathan Edelstein noticed that the way the government dealt with the issue represents a huge change from what we used to hear from our parents about the *good* ole days.
Al Domari had a very successful start, the first issues disappeared from the stands in a few hours, the people were thirsty for a change from the state-run newspapers, but then the public interest in the newspaper became less and less.
The news paper as it describes itself is satirical and the means it has to criticize and sometime *make fun of* somebody or something, the problem is that in developed country like Syria there's a lot (and more than you can imagine) of issues that the people (or the government) consider it as taboos whether politically or socially, I think that this kind of newspapers needs other than this soil to flourish, it needs an open society that values the freedom of speech, accepts the criticism and welcomes it.
So the distribution figures of the newspaper has fallen and also (and that's based on my personal opinion after reading four or five issues) the value of its content.
The kind of newspapers that I wish to see in my country is a political newspaper like the Guardian with its indepth analysis and genuine reports, but I think we need more time to see something like this.
As I notice, the freedom of speech is declining globally and with the mysterious death of Dr. David Kelly one can say that the braves are in the graves, and what's left for the scared mice like me other than to say:
Long live the president!
God Save the Queen!
Hmmm, since my brain is working again, I'd better spend the night thinking of another plan to rule the world.
Nice site! Big thanx to webmaster!
;)
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Posted by: jeabbeptado | January 06, 2008 at 04:06 AM