A couple of days ago Al Jazeera English asked me to record a short video message about my opinions on the lightweight Assad interview at the Telegraph.
I am writing as we are doing a report on the protests in Syria and the media angle to this story. One angle we want to look at is President Assad's interview with the British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph.The downside is that I would throw away my anonymity for 30 seconds of quasi-fame that would help an anti-Israel propaganda channel.
During one part of our report we open up the floor to people who may have an opinion on the report we are working on. These people are called our Global Village Voices. I came across your blog online and your knowledge of the subject would strengthen the analysis of our report. I am writing to see if you would be interested in recording a comment for us for our show.
If so, you could consider one of the questions below to help you frame your answer:
1) President Assad hasn't been talking to Western media, but he broke that rule when he gave an interview to the Sunday Telegraph. What was the significance of the interview and Assad's message?
2) What has the Syrian government's media strategy been like? How has it evolved through the protests in the country?
3) How effective has the campaign of repression against Syrian media activists been?
Alternatively, feel free to formulate your own statement, our only request is that you stay to the media angle of the story. All you would need to do is a record a 30-40 second video clip of your answers.
On the other hand, I could end up getting a few new readers - the types that watch Al Jazeera to begin with.
What a dilemma!