IN THE TOWN HALL

{theaterofwar} Syria TV Remixes Senator McCain Town Hall, 2013

How aligned with the Assad regime’s message must the news be to pass censors in Syria? And how aligned with Youtube censors must a major Syrian news company be to avoid having its account deleted?

At Senator John McCain’s September 5, 2013 town hall meeting, a Syrian-American woman spoke passionately against the U.S. using force in the Middle East. Shortly thereafter, the Syrian TV station Alikhbaria (الاخبارية السورية) broadcast footage of the woman’s plea to McCain on its YouTube Channel.

The Alikhbaria news package presents the woman’s appeal to McCain as if it were a single unedited clip of her speech. However, comparing the Syria TV version to the original clip reveals manipulation. The first 15 seconds of her speech and 25 additional seconds of her voice within the clip are missing, masked by what the movie industry calls invisible editing technique.

What was left on Syria TV’s cutting room floor? What was added?

remix 1. Cut her statement that “no one is denying that there’s a lot of atrocities being committed in Syria” on both sides of the conflict.

remix 2. Cut her plea that the U.S. must stop Iran’s support to Assad’s army and Saudi Arabia’s support to the opposing forces.

remix 3. Add dramatic music.

remix 4. Cut her statement that she “is not a fan” of Bashar Al-Assad. This results in an awkward misquote, “We don’t want Al Qaida to take over [cut] but at least he has a secular government going on over there.”

The Alikhbaria news package was available on Alikhbaria’s YouTube page yesterday. However, it is no longer there. Nor are thousands of other Alikhbaria videos. On September 14, 2013, YouTube shut down the entire Alikhbaria account for “repeated or severe violations of Community Guidelines and/or claims of copyright infringement.”

ON THE STREET

{theaterofwar} Field Telephone

You’ve seen it, you’ve told someone else about it, you may have knocked on the BUREAU of CHANGE Public Information Office doors to learn more, spread a story, or become an arbiter of the official word. Or you cried quietly inside once you realized what the people who made their own death videos were trying to tell you.

{theaterofwar}, New Orleans, September 15, 2013 – February 15, 2014