Sunday, October 14, 2012

Aleppo News, a media mouse that roars



Aleppo News must surely be the world's smallest news agency, with a handful of amateur journalists and technicians operating from a shelled-out building in Syria's war-ravaged second city. Its staff gather and sift through news from the front line in their makeshift Aleppo office, ready for dissemination via the Internet including on their YouTube channel.
 Abu Mahmud is a 20-year-old technician who prefers not to divulge his real name for security reasons. "Aleppo News took off in February," says the student-cum-rebel, just under a year after the initially peaceful revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began, escalating into a civil war after it was violently suppressed. 
Yaarop, the other journalist, is even younger. He says he is 18.
 The team's footage is uploaded to YouTube alongside the shaky amateur video shot by Syrians seeking to make a daily record of the terrible violence of a conflict that is tearing their country apart. Businessmen opposed to the Assad regime give Aleppo News enough money to keep the team going, in both materials and food. 
It was not possible for AFP to meet Aleppo TV staff or visit their transmission site. For security reasons, its members operate clandestinely from neighbouring Turkey, which supports the rebellion against Assad's regime. Aleppo News's footage, meanwhile, goes on the Internet, adding to the countless videos that testify to the intense violence of the Syrian conflict. (AFP)

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