On the Question of studying the modern Syrian Media System

Malakhovskii Aleksei Kimovich PhD in History Associate professor, Department of Theory and History of Journalism, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, 10 korp. 2, of. filologicheskii fakul'tet malakhovskiy_ak@pfur.ru Other publications by this author

Durgam Nabkhan Postgraduate student, Department of Theory and History of Journalism, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Theory & History of Journalism Dept., Philology Faculty, Peoples' Friendship University, 10 Bldng, 2 Ulitsa Miklukho-Maklaya, Moscow, Russia 117198 1042185107@rudn.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The relevance of research. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of media research in Arab countries, which occupy a significant place in the global information space. The Arab region, located in North Africa and Western Asia, currently has 472.5 million inhabitants (20). Thus, we are talking about almost half a billion potential audience of Arab media. In the last thirty years, the influence of Arab media in the global information space has been steadily growing: coverage of very complex international relations in the Arab region, regional conflicts, socio-economic problems of the region, the influence of which goes far beyond its borders, has ceased to be the lot of Western media monopolies. Major Arab television networks Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Arab segments of social networks, Arab news agencies, ahead of Western media resources, provide exclusive information about events in this significant region, as well as spread the Arab point of view on the most important events and processes taking place in the world.

Despite significantly lower financial capabilities compared to the above-mentioned information networks of rich Arab oil-producing countries, the Syrian media are quite noticeable in the Arab region due to the acute armed conflict on the territory of the country, which attracts attention both regionally and globally. Since the beginning of the armed conflict in Syria in 2011, during which there was a danger to the existence of a single state and its media, the analysis of the flow of information of the Syrian media seems very relevant. At the same time, it is necessary, in our opinion, to clarify the concept of the Syrian media system, which would have not only theoretical but also practical significance, especially given the fact that the Syrian state at various stages of the armed conflict of the last decade, sometimes under threat of destruction, has lost control over a number of its territories.

The purpose of our research is to define the concept of "media system" applicable to the study of modern Syrian media. To achieve this research goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

- set criteria for determining the modern media system of Syria;

- to consider various definitions of the media system based on the works of Russian researchers;

- to study the definitions of the media system of Western researchers;

- to consider the use of the definition of the media system in the context of the study of Arab and Syrian media by Western and Arab authors integrated into Western research schools;

- consider the official Syrian definition of the role of modern Syrian media;

- to make an attempt to derive the most relevant definition of the media system in the context of the study of modern Syrian media.

The scientific novelty of the research consists in an attempt to integrate the definitions of the media system put forward by Russian, Western and Arab authors – representatives of various scientific schools, and to develop a relevant definition of the modern Syrian media system.

The object of our research is the scientific literature devoted to media studies. The subject of the article is the interpretation of the definition of "media system" contained in the works of Russian, Western and Arab authors, as applied to the study of modern media in Syria.

The material for the preparation of this article is the works of Russian and foreign researchers devoted to the study of the problems of modern media in general and Arab media in particular.

In the process of creating the article, such methods as scientific observation, text analysis, and comparative analysis were used.

The practical significance of the article lies in the rather small degree of study in the Russian-language scientific literature of the issues related to modern Arab media in general and the Syrian media in particular. The materials of our research can be used both for educational purposes (for example, when training specialists in international journalism) and by practical journalists.

The main part

Problem statement

In our opinion, when attempting to define the concept of the modern media system of Syria, we should proceed, first of all, from the following factors:

1.      Attempts to reform the economic, political, and social spheres undertaken since the early 2000s by the country's leadership, headed by President Bashar al-Assad, who set out to partially liberalize the one-party system.

2. The protracted armed conflict taking place in Syria from 2011 to the present. This conflict, in which external forces (both regional and global) are involved, has led to the fragmentation of the country into territories controlled by the central government, territories controlled by the armed Islamist opposition, territories controlled by the Kurdish movement.

3.      The appearance of a significant number of refugees who have left the territory of Syria, who have settled both in neighboring and more distant countries. Thus, a geographically fragmented diaspora was formed.

4.      Activation of the activities of armed anti-government groups outside the control of the central Government. In the context of the explosive development of digital media, primarily social networks, these groups are actively using both "new" and traditional mass media to create a specific information environment in order to spread their influence.

5. The deployment of an information war involving local national, regional and global actors.

6.      The aspirations of the central government to restore military-political and information sovereignty over the entire territory of the country, to overcome acute economic and social problems.

To develop a definition of the modern Syrian media system, we will proceed to the analysis of the theoretical basis presented in Russian studies, the works of the authors of the Western school of studies, Syrian official sources and studies.

Russian researchers on the concept of "media system"

In the Russian research literature in recent decades, the concept of "media system" has been used. Russian researchers agree that the term "media system" itself has not received a single and universally recognized definition. E.L. Vartanova believes that the focus of media systems research has historically been directed to the countries of Europe and North America, but in recent decades the interest of a number of researchers has shifted to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America (29, p. 2).

Russian researcher M.G. Shilina defines a media system as "a systemic dynamic unity of subjects (owners, managers, journalists) of various types of media (print media, radio broadcasting, TV, Internet media, mobile media) connected by communication of various levels and functioning in order to provide socially significant information to the audience in the public space" (39, p. 11). According to M.G. Shilina, the dynamic unity of the system is provided by media communication. According to M.G. Shilina's classification, media systems are distributed by levels: macro (global, national), medium/midi (concern, holding, group), micro (individual media). Within the framework of this concept, the elements of the system are also considered, such as basic (owners, customers of publishing and editorial media policy — nominal and real), technological (directorial managers at all levels), creative (editorial managers at all levels and journalists), technical, infrastructural (ibid.). At the same time, it is noted that the essential elements of the media system are the institutions of media education, the connecting link is the theory of QMS at all levels, all this takes place against the background of dynamic phenomena characteristic of the media system, with the changing nature of internal and external functions (ibid.).

Russian researcher I. Dzyaloshinsky, based on the philosophical research of V.I. Vernadsky and T. De Chardin, starting from the doctrine of the "noosphere", introduces the definition of "information and communication universe as a set of all systems somehow related to communication processes" (31, p. 337) and asserts an institutional and communicative approach to their I. Dzyaloshinsky studies media as a social institution that operates in a number of other communication institutions. I. Dzyaloshinsky, rather, speaks not about the media system, but about the media space and the media sphere, moreover, the media space is one of the manifestations of the information and communication universe. By I. Dzyaloshinsky, "we believe that the concept of "media space" makes sense to designate that segment of the information and communication universe in which complex technical devices are used to organize the exchange of knowledge. Thus, the basis of the media space is the means of production and dissemination of socially significant information, as well as the information itself." (32, p. 9). At the same time, the author admits that "there is no generally accepted definition of the concept of "media space", and the spread of opinions on this matter is simply amazing" (31, p. 341).

In the Russian-language scientific literature, the last decade has not stopped the discussion about the relationship of the terms "media system", "media sphere", "media space". Thus, researcher A.V. Potrebin emphasizes that the term "media sphere" is most often identical to the concept of "media space".  At the same time, according to this researcher, the media space is included as an integral part in the information space and serves to localize a certain media system (38, p. 201).

Most researchers define a media system as a set of interconnected media enterprises in the national or regional information space. In particular, "a media system is a complexly organized object that represents a set of internally heterogeneous print, electronic, and digital media, interconnected typologically into a single open structure, which makes it possible to provide a holistic information space focused on the needs of the audience" (36, p. 19).

Thus, we see that, first of all, the national or regional media system is meant, namely, the territorial criterion is decisive. However, in modern realities, this criterion is supplemented by such factors as Internet sites, blogs and accounts of information actors in social networks, as well as the activities of social networks and messengers in general. At the same time, in modern conditions, the binding to the territory remains, as well as by linguistic and social criteria, which allows us to designate with more or less accuracy the limits of a particular media system.  Russian researcher Ya. Zasursky noted in 2005 that "... a complex unified global and at the same time nationally fragmented information and communication system is developing on the Internet" (34, p. 20). Moreover, describing the features of the development of such systems, Y. Zasursky noted that they and their history depend "on at least six main factors – information needs, communication strategies and technologies, the needs of society, politics, economics and culture" (34, p. 19).

Russian researchers D.P. Gavra and K.A. Naumenko emphasize that the term "media system" has a functional and meaningful dualism, since it functions in two different paradigmatic dimensions: substantive (subject-organizational) and social (30).

A definite result of the discussion of the term "media system" is summed up in the collective work of researchers of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University "Domestic theory of media: basic concepts. Dictionary", which emphasizes that "the media system is a complex multi–level and multi-vector environment formed by media institutes in their interaction with each other and in interaction with society, its other institutions, as well as individuals/citizens (audience), an interconnected and competitive system of media market enterprises (which includes both separate typological segments of traditional media and new media – the press, broadcasting, online media, and infrastructure enterprises, that is, producing companies), certain professional communities and activities for the creation, production and distribution of media products and media services" (37, p. 150). Despite the dissatisfaction of a number of Russian researchers with the term "media system", this term "generalizes the real practice of the national media environment, but also remains a theoretical construct, because it is quite difficult to measure the media system in a particular country" (ibid., pp. 153-154). At the same time, "geographical, geopolitical, demographic, cultural-ethnic, economic, technological, cultural-institutional and legislative criteria become significant criteria in the study of the media system" (ibid., p. 154), with which, undoubtedly, one should agree in the course of studying the problems of modern Syrian media.

Western authors about the media system

In the collective monograph "Arab Media Systems", published in 2021 (1), the authors cite well-established definitions of the term "media system", stipulating that this term is controversial in the scientific community (ibid., p. XIV). For example, D. McQuail defines a media system as "a set of mass media existing in a national society" (16, p. 220).  At the same time, the authors of the work "Arab Media Systems" prefer the definition of this term proposed by E. Chadwick, who believes that the media system carries a structure-actor relationship, therefore, the media system "can often mean flexibility, adaptability, evolutionary changes resulting from social interaction" (5, p. 16).

Thus, we see that the definitions of the media system of D. McQuail and E. Chadwick approximately correspond to the classification proposed by Russian researchers D.P. Gavra and K.A. Naumenko, who speak about the substantive and social dimensions of the term "media system", moreover, the media system of D. McQuail is closer to the first dimension, and the media system of E. Chadwick is closer to the second.

The problem of comparative analysis of media systems of the "global South" in the works of foreign authors

Comparative analysis of media systems was first conceptualized in the work "Four Theories of the Press" by F. Siebert, T. Peterson and W. Schramm (24). In this book, the authors have identified four types of logic of the media system in accordance with the "main purpose" of the media (ibid., p. 7): 1) an authoritarian system in which the media promote and support government policies and, thus, are under its strong control; 2) a libertarian system in which the media information is intended for information and entertainment and can belong to anyone who has the economic means to do so; 3) a system of social responsibility in which the media is also intended for information and entertainment, but for the purpose of discussing and resolving social conflicts; 4) a Soviet totalitarian system in which the main purpose of the media is to promote ideas the ruling party, and therefore the media almost exclusively belong to the state. Undoubtedly, this study was dictated by the logic of the "cold war" and was intended to prove the advantages of Western media systems over the Soviet one.

Despite the fact that in the 1980s - 90s the "Four Theories of the Press" began to be criticized by Western researchers, this work for many decades was a kind of "starting point" for Western and following the Western research logic of Arab authors. Some of them tried to add media theories, such as James Carey's "ritual system" (4, pp. 13-36), which depends on a common understanding between the sender and the recipient, which helps to support society; William Hutten's "revolutionary system", which emphasizes the mobilizing and propagandistic role of the media (12); "system development" by Dennis McQuail (15), in which he called the media a factor of positive national development; "radical democratic system" by James Curran (6), in which he proposed that the media should be free from commercial interests and belong to the people. All these theories of media systems appear in the conditions of a "unipolar world", i.e. the cessation of ideological and informational confrontation during the classic "Cold War" between the USSR and its allies on the one hand and the United States and its allies on the other.

In 2004, the work of D. Hallin and P. Mancini "Comparison of media systems" became a new starting point for many Western researchers. Focusing on 18 media systems in North America and Europe and excluding Eastern Europe, the authors developed three types of media and politics relations:

1) a liberal system, which is characterized by a market understanding of the media, low structural political parallelism and insignificant external regulation of the media, as in the United States;

2) a democratic corporatist system in which the media is considered a public good and is moderately regulated, as in Sweden;

3) a polarized pluralistic system in which political parallelism is strong, and the media are often seen as tools used either by the state, political parties, or business magnates on the example of Greece (11).

This seemingly ready-to-use typology of media systems attracted a lot of attention and was actively cited in subsequent works of Western research schools, but was also criticized. One of the main criticisms in this regard is that the media systems described above are too general and are not applicable outside of Western countries. Thus, a number of researchers of the media systems of the so-called "global south" called for the development of other criteria; among the authors studying the problems of the media of "non-Western" countries, a scientific discussion on the "de-westernization" of communicative research has unfolded (see 25). It should be noted that we are talking, first of all, about the application of the concept of Hallin and Mancini to the study of "non-Western" media systems.

With regard to the media system, Hallin and Mancini, in addition to its interaction with the political system of any country, emphasize the importance of such factors as the development of the newspaper industry, the presence of political parallelism in media organizations, the level of professionalism of journalists, as well as the role of the state in regulating the media. Thus, their criteria were heavily focused on history, the relationship between media and politics, legal aspects and the perception of the role of a journalist, but ignored many other elements such as technological and social aspects. The very static application of derived criteria to the analysis of the media system overlooks less explicit informal practices in the field of media policy.

Researchers Weisbord and Mellado emphasize that "de-westernization" requires a change in analytical thinking" (25, p.364), in particular, with regard to the "set of evidence" (ibid., p. 364), in other words, calling for a departure from Western patterns in the study of Arab media systems. Nevertheless, many researchers of the Western school continue to rely on the same patterns expressing the relationship between politics and the media, such as Roger Blum (see 1, p. XVIII), who, based on the criteria of Hallin and Mancini, developed a typology for studying the media of any country. R. Blum proposed 11 dimensions, reflecting all the same criteria set by Siebert, Peterson and Schramm. According to R. Blum, each of the criteria, for example, freedom of the media or political parallelism, can develop in different countries in three ways — liberal, medium or regulated. As a result, six models are possible: the liberal model (represented by the USA) at one end of the spectrum and the command model (represented by North Korea) at the other, with mixed models between these two poles, such as the public service model (represented by Germany), the clientelist model (represented by Italy), the shock model (represented by Russia) and, finally, the patriotic model (represented by Iran) (ibid.).

Thus, despite the desire to reflect the specifics of the media systems of the "global south", including Arab countries, representatives of modern Western research schools often apply highly politicized criteria that go back to the methodology proposed by Sibert, Peterson and Schramm, as well as Hallin and Mancini.

Western and Arab authors on the Syrian media system in the context of Arab media systems

Speaking about the features of the media system of modern Syria, it should be noted that in the international research community in recent decades there have been several attempts to classify Arab media systems. Comparative studies are mainly conducted based on the analysis of the media of any sub-region of the Arab world, one, two or several countries. Examples of such works are a number of case studies of one Arab country or comparisons of two states (for example, 7; 13; 14; 26). Often these studies refer to one of the mentioned classification systems and speak of the "authoritarian" or, to a lesser extent, the "polarized pluralistic" nature of the corresponding media system. R. Blum, for example, analyzed three Arab states — Syria, Egypt and Lebanon — and, unsurprisingly, divided them into command, patriotic and clientelist models accordingly.

For a long time, the only and probably the most cited classification of Arab media systems was William Roux's work "The Arab Press", which was first published in 1979 (22) and then updated in 2004 under the new name "Arab Media" (21). According to the latest version of this work, there are four main models, by which Arabic media systems can be classified. Firstly, it is the mobilization press, which is a model dating back to the era of modernization (i.e., the 1950s-70s), when Arab republican governments set out to awaken and educate their people through strictly controlled media. Whereas in 1979, U. Ru classified the majority of Arab republican states as corresponding to this model, in the early 2000s, in our opinion, only Syria, Iraq (until 2003), Libya and Sudan remained in this category. The second model of U. <url> is a loyalist media, the main characteristic of which is their loyalty and general support of the ruling elites, despite the fact that they consist of conglomerates of private media. <url> placed Palestine and all the countries of the Persian (Arab) Gulf, with the exception of Kuwait, in this category. The third model U. Ru is a diversified media, where the media — or at least the print media sector — is characterized by a variety of political opinions, which most often indicates a strong political parallelism in countries that are poorly or not controlled by the central government at all. Among the countries that have Ru considers Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco and Yemen to belong to this model. The fourth model proposed by U. To reflect the changes taking place in many countries in the early 2000s, the RU is a transitional system of print media. In 2004, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia were presented as examples of this model, as they introduced privatization measures in the media sector, which began to unfold with various but "unsettled" effects (21, p. 121). Since the publication of his book, major political events (for example, the uprisings known as the "Arab Spring" and their consequences), as well as intra-regional and international military interventions (for example, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the NATO invasion of Libya in 2011, the war in Yemen since 2015, the Syrian conflict since 2011) over the past two decades, the classification of Y has been nullified. Ru in relation to these countries.

A number of authors have contributed to the further differentiation of the types of Arab media systems and aspects of their analysis. Studying the beginning of the spread of satellite television in the Arab world, Mohammad Ayish (2) proposed a new type of classification system for this Arab media: 1) traditional state-controlled television; 2) reformist state television; and 3) liberal commercial television. In his work, M. Ayish applied content analysis and sociological methods of media research, in particular, including in his questionnaire-survey questions about what content is processed in the media, and whether journalists put forward "red lines" in their reports, such as problems of politics, security and morality (2, p. 141).

Similarly, after analyzing the news content in 16 Arab countries, Noha Mellor (17) developed her own classification criteria, mainly with regard to the news content and taking into account "the commercial purposes that these media serve, whether it is creating maximum profit or contributing to the creation of a new image and, consequently, a good reputation of a particular countries or mass media" (18, p. 73). Although the principles of media activity and their functions were previously defined as categories in the above-mentioned work "Four Theories of the Press", N. Mellor's introduction of content classification represented a new empirical category for analysis.

Another attempt to classify Arab media systems was made by Mahmoud Galander (8). He distinguishes four types: 1) a socially oriented media system, 2) a media system of modernist monarchies, 3) a media system of modernist republics, and 4) a socially liberal media system. Using the distinction based on the form of government (in particular, monarchy and republic) — similar to other typologies — he introduced additional dimensions in order to avoid "inaccurate and — sometimes erroneous — interpretation of politics as a key component of relations between the media and governments in the region" (8, p. 3). M. Galander argued that when The analysis of the Arab media should take into account the socio-political aspects of the decision-making process, the religious composition of society, the degree of tribalism or collectivism. Thus, according to M. Galander, the states of the Persian (Arab) Gulf, with the exception of Kuwait, belong to the first type — socially oriented, and modernist monarchies, such as Kuwait, Morocco and Jordan, have more in common with each other and constitute the second type. Sudan, Syria and Algeria belong to the modernist republics, while Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Lebanon belong to the category of socially liberal. At the same time, the attribution of countries to a certain type is valid only for a limited period of time due to the constantly changing military and political dynamics in the countries of the Arab region. M. Galander in his analysis takes into account the social composition of a country's society - a factor that many researchers have neglected.

A number of researchers of Western schools analyzing Arab media did not go into the development of a typology, but instead either described various aspects characteristic of media systems in certain periods of time using the examples of individual countries (19), or performed a comparative analysis of a certain type of media, for example, television or cinema (see 18; 23), or considered specific parameters of media systems, such as economy or audience (see 9; 10). The lack of reliable statistical data, the heterogeneity of the media development conditions of various Arab countries, the dynamic events of domestic and foreign policy relations in the Arab region all make it difficult to classify Arab media systems.

The most successful, in our opinion, is the definition of the modern Syrian media system, given by the Arab researcher Ya. Badran. He emphasizes the destructive impact of the prolonged armed conflict on the economy, social structure, territorial integrity of the country and its mass media, which once worked within the framework of a one-party system, and writes about the "fragmented media system" of Syria (3, p. 19).

The Syrian approach to the study of the country's media system

Official Syrian sources, when considering the problems of the Syrian media, are guided by the provisions contained in the state legislation on mass media. Currently, the law on mass media is in force in Syria, enshrined in Legislative Decree No. 108, approved by President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. Paragraph 3 of the first chapter of the section on the structure of the Syrian Ministry of Information states that the mission of the Ministry and the Syrian media is to "educate society, strengthen Arab national aspirations in the country, support relations with Arab and friendly countries in accordance with the principles of the Arab Socialist Baath Party and State policy" (33). According to the official concept, the national media system of Syria should strengthen the national sense of patriotism, solidarity of society, unite the Arab nation on the basis of unity, freedom and socialism, Arab traditional values, educate the masses, revive literary, artistic and scientific heritage, acquaint the masses with the achievements of human civilization, inform about domestic and international events and explain them meaning (ibid.). 

In the spirit of this concept, the history and current problems of the Syrian media are presented and investigated (see, for example, 40). The terminology of the Syrian official media documents and works devoted to the study of mass media goes back to the terminology of the Baath Party, the state-forming party of the country. The Baath Party, which defined the political system of modern Syria, emphasizes both the national and the pan-Arab nature of the Syrian media, in the spirit of the current Constitution of the country, adopted in 2012 and preserving the fundamental provisions of the 1973 Constitution. Thus, article 1 states that Syria "is a democratic State with full sovereignty, is indivisible and cannot give up part of its territory, and is part of the Arab homeland. The people of Syria are part of the Arab nation" (35, p. 3). The media of Syria are viewed in the same dualistic way – on the one hand they are Syrian, on the other – Arab.

Current modern studies by Syrian authors published in the context of the armed conflict are devoted to specific aspects of media activity, meaning the media system of mass media operating in the territory controlled by the central government (see 27, 28).

 Conclusions

 Attempting to integrate various definitions of the media system and apply it to the media of modern Syria, in our opinion, it is worth taking into account both Russian studies and the works of the authors of the Western and Syrian schools of research, namely:

1. Geographical, geopolitical, demographic, cultural-ethnic, economic, technological, cultural-institutional and legislative factors, which are indicated in the Russian work "Domestic Media theory: basic concepts. Dictionary" edited by E. L. Vartanova.

2.      The definition of Ya. Badran, who characterized the media system of modern Syria as "fragmented" in the conditions of a protracted armed conflict.

3. The official definition of the Syrian media as a factor contributing to the cohesion of society.

Taking into account the criteria listed by us in the formulation of the research problem, corresponding to the current state of the state, society, and the country's media in conditions of a prolonged armed conflict, we propose the following definition: "The media system of modern Syria is a set of mass media in the territory controlled by the legitimately elected government of the country, functioning in conditions of temporary fragmentation of the country's territory in order to restore the information sovereignty".

Thus, in the concept of the Syrian media system, we do not include the media operating in territories not controlled by the central government in the interests of anti-government forces, as well as the media of the Syrian diaspora. most likely, the definition of "media sphere" is suitable for these two categories of media.

We understand the controversial nature of our definition of the media system and its certain politicization. In our opinion, in the dynamically changing conditions of the functioning of the media in the Arab region at this stage, it is sufficiently relevant.