"This study reveals that news briefs are the most commonly found type of pieces published in the emerging Syrian media sector. Together, news briefs, news reports and feature stories constitute 90 percent of what was published during the monitoring period. Investigative reports were very rare. News ... briefs were not only the most common in news agencies and electronic newspapers but also in a large number of online and print magazines. Military and field developments as well as political issues were the most frequent topics that the Syrian media covered. Services and infrastructure, social, and rights-related topics had limited coverage in the Syrian media during the monitoring period. The issue of refugees also had limited coverage in the articles and reports published by the Syrian media during the monitoring period. One of the main structural weaknesses in Syrian media outlets is the very low number of sources that are citied in news briefs, news reports and feature stories – the overall average number of sources was less than one per article." (Findings and recommendations, page 43) more