Al-Asad, Hafiz (1930–2000)

Hafiz Al-Asad rose to power in Syria in February 1971 in a bloodless coup known in contemporary Syrian political jargon as The Corrective Movement (Al Haraka Al Tashiheyya) in which the ruling Baath Party consolidated its grip on public life in Syria. At that time, Syria already had a media system comprised of two television channels, two state-owned newspapers, two radio services, and a government-operated news [Page 22]agency (SANA). Under Al-Asad's rule, Syrian media were operating within a tight control system drawing on state-ownership and a pan-Arabist political discourse. It was described as a mobilization media system that harnessed media channels to drum up support for the regime and its brand of Arab nationalism. For many Westerners, Syria under Hafiz Al-Asad was a dictatorship that ...