Thrashing Media Freedoms & Arbitrary Arrests: Eye on Syria and Bahrain

The Trump v. Obama bonanza and the recent death of Osama bin Laden (carefully timed to be announced in the middle of The Apprentice) has been drowning out a lot of more important ongoing news. World Press Freedom Day has gone by this May 3rd and, lest we forget, journalists in Syria and Bahrain are facing rough odds. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders issued this year's list of press freedom "predators" this past Tuesday. Who's new to the list this year? The King of Bahrain.

Yesterday, Toby C. Jones published a great piece on the Arab Reform Bulletin, a publication by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, with an analysis and overview of Bahrain's censorship measures. To name a few, Al Wasat, Bahrain's leading independent paper is expected to close down on May 10 and, according to The Media Line, "the Bahrain Center for Human Rights reported on Tuesday that 68 journalists have been laid-off, arrested and threatened." Even medical personnel and staff are not immune to the repression. The Guardian reported that medics have become targets of retribution simply for helping injured protesters. The Media Line further added that about 50 medics would face military trial for 'subversive acts.'

In Syria, a similar pattern of response against media and opposition supporters has taken place. This past Wednesday, Al Jazeera confirmed that one of its journalists, Dorothy Parvaz, was arrested in Syria. Al Jazeera has launched an online campaign on Twitter with the tag #FreeDorothy as well as a Facebook page. Today, the Neiman Foundation, of which Parvaz is a fellow, has also called for her release. For the past month, arbitrary arrests of journalists and suspected opposition supporters has been the norm in Syria with the addition of violent crackdowns against protesters, especially in Deraa, which some observers are calling a 'massacre.'

If these regimes believe that arbitrary arrests, violent retribution, and thrashing media freedoms will maintain the status quo they really ought to reconsider their tactics. Historically, such actions only result in strengthening the resolve of those who genuinely seek political reform for their countries building up international criticism for the regime and sympathy for the victims of crackdowns. Is there any political sense in detaining journalists, bloggers and medics, shooting at unarmed protesters, and even using torture and blackmail to threaten opposition supporters? Do these tactics ever provide a desired outcome in long-run? While in the private sphere individuals are expected to act with civility towards one another, the same ethics and rules of behavior never apply in the political realm which is a sad sight. If the governments of Syria and Bahrain continue to take "desperate" measures against protesters and media representatives they will surely find themselves committing political suicide.