Revolt in Syria

One of the most significant challenges foreign journalists have faced in covering the Syrian uprisings these past 18 months has been their lack of understanding regarding the country’s society. Unlike neighboring Lebanon, Israel or regional powerhouse Egypt, Syria’s decades of stability until last year had led the vast majority of Western journalists and analysts to shun it in favor of more ‘juicy’ stories. Even Robert Fisk, The Independent correspondent based in Beirut for three decades, dedicates barely 20 pages to Syria in his 1,000-plus page work on the modern history of the Middle East, “The Great War for Civilisation”. So when the Arab uprisings eventually worked their way into the country, months after the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis, many foreign correspondents found themselves lacking the basic knowledge necessary to produce top-quality coverage. In the absence of this they often fell back