Syrian Media

Abu Aardvark notes a potential opening in Syrian press regulations. And guess what? It probably comes in reaction to people our government doesn't like:

"It is almost impossible to exaggerate how dismal and boring most Syrian publications are. Good lord are they dull. The real spur for reform? 'It may be competition between the public media and new private publications or the work of foreign journalists that will help raise the bar and spur on reform in Syria.' Actually, though she doesn't say it, the answer seems pretty obvious: al Jazeera and al Arabiya and the rest of the Arab satellite media have pretty much destroyed the ability of a state such as Syria to control information. If nobody watches your state television anymore, or reads your state newspapers, they kind of lose their purpose."

Incidentally, many people have been complaining about al-Jazeera lately.