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Emerging Media Structures, Media Policy and the Challenge of Disinformation in Post-Assad Syria

Asiem El Difraoui, Carola Richter, Anja Wollenberg

Berlin: Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT) (2025), 54 pp.

"This study analyses the media ecosystem in post-Assad Syria, focusing on the proliferation of disinformation, ethno-sectarian hate speech and Foreign Interference (FIMI). It covers the period from December 2024 to December 2025, one year after the collapse of the Assad regime. Besides disinformati ... on, the research examines emerging media structures, media policies of the transitional government, and the professional conditions of journalists across different regions of Syria. The study is based on field research conducted in Damascus in September and November 2025, semi-structured interviews with approximately 60 stakeholders —including government officials, journalists, and media experts from eight Syrian cities— in-depth desk research, social media analysis and a focus group discussion with Syrian media professionals held during a workshop in Amman [...] Within this broader context, the Syrian media landscape is undergoing significant transformation. State media institutions, such as the television channel Al-Ikhbariya, the news agency SANA, and the newspaper Al-Thawra, have adjusted their editorial lines and now largely support the new government, with limited critical coverage. The state media sector employs an estimated 7,000–8,000 staff, but displays pronounced salary inequalities between long-standing employees and newly appointed executives from Idlib. Media outlets funded by Qatar, including Syria Now and Syria TV, have gained prominence due to their close alignment with the new authorities. While some exile media outlets have begun to return to Syria, local and independent media organisations continue to operate under precarious financial conditions. In the Kurdish-controlled northeast of Syria (AANES), an autonomous media system persists, though it has been severely affected by the withdrawal of U.S. funding. Disinformation represents a central challenge in the Syrian media and information environment, particularly given the dominance of social media and messaging platforms as primary news sources. The study identifies multiple actors involved in coordinated disinformation campaigns. These include remnants of the former regime (Foloul), who seek to destabilise the transitional authorities as well as foreign actors—for example Russia, Iran, Israel and Turkey—that pursue their own geopolitical interests partly through coordinated campaigns; and ISIS propaganda, which routinely calls for attacks on Alawites, Shias, Christians, Druze, Kurds, and other groups it casts as enemies. Most of the various ethno-religious communities are both targets and producers of disinformation. Competing narratives centred on victimhood, revenge, and revisionism have contributed to cycles of mistrust and fear. Disinformation, hate speech, and propaganda are primarily disseminated via Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Based on these findings, the study proposes five policy recommendations: (1) the establishment of a Syria Media and Disinformation Observatory to monitor and analyse disinformation trends; (2) the development of a context-sensitive media literacy toolkit; (3) sustained international funding for public interest media; (4) cross-regional professional networking and training programmes for Syrian journalists; and (5) youth-focused initiatives aimed at promoting social cohesion. The study concludes that the future development of a pluralistic media system in Syria will depend largely on internal power dynamics within the ruling elites, particularly the balance between ideological hardliners and more pragmatic actors." (Executive summary) more

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Die Hydra des Dschihadismus: Entstehung, Ausbreitung und Abwehr einer globalen Gefahr

Asiem El Difraoui

Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), Sonderausg. (2023), 366 pp.

"Die grausamen Handlungen dschihadistischer Gruppierungen wie der „Al-Qaida“ oder des „Islamischen Staates“ schockieren und verbreiten Angst. Immer wieder scheinen neue Attentäter nachzurücken, ein Phänomen, das Asiem El Difraoui mit den stets nachwachsenden Köpfen einer Hydra vergleicht ... more

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Afghanistan: August 2021. A Tentative Reassessment of Cultural Foreign Policy and Civil Society Support

Asiem El Difraoui, Caspar Berges

Stuttgart: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) (2021), 22 pp.

"[...] If Afghanistan is to avoid a renewal of civil war, there is no viable alternative to Taliban rule and Taliban dialogue. Engagement with the Taliban in terms of urgently needed humanitarian aid opens avenues for cooperation in the field of cultural foreign policy and civil society support. Her ... e, the Taliban are especially open to support in the educational sector. Education, including for women, is a widespread demand in Afghanistan, even in the rural areas. As a member of civil society stressed, the Taliban are not ready to accept political activities but seem so far result-oriented in what concerns practical improvements for the Afghan population. Under seemingly non-political activities, for example competitions about daily life concerns like waste or water management, independent thinking and the respect of human rights can still be fostered. Generally, activities can be promoted with Afghan and Islamic references acceptable to the Taliban mindset. Fostering women’s rights, for example, can be done by giving the examples of the wives of the prophet Mohammed and of the relative freedoms of women in Saudi Arabia and Iran, who have more rights than those under the previous Taliban regime. As one participant states “the only progressive ideas which can be ingrained in Afghan society need to be somehow referring to internal cultural heritage Afghan and/or Islamic”. In this context, a lot of venues can be explored. Herat, for example was a major cultural centre over centuries. Afghans know also very little of the significance of historically important Islamic cities like Bukhara or Samarkand in neighbouring Uzbekistan, despite the fact that a sizable proportion of the Afghan population are Uzbek. Even more significant is the fact that Afghans who are very attached to their religion know very little of the achievement of the golden age Arabo-Islamic culture in science like mathematics, geography, astronomy, medicine or architecture or literature. There are also some classical art forms through which we can engage with the Taliban, such as poetry, as well as opportunities in contemporary comedy, where a certain criticism can be voiced and tolerated. The interplay of new and traditional media also provides unique opportunities in terms of education and human rights. Here DW-TV, Radio and internet activities can play an important role. Independent initiatives should also be promoted. These can offer considerable opportunities to connect regional civil society actors, which for one of the interviewees is one of the most effective ways of engagement “for example, feminist groups of neighbouring countries which supported feminist groups in Afghanistan”. (Conclusion, page 17) more

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Filmemacher des Terrors: Die Bildpropaganda des globalen Dschihad

Asiem El Difraoui

In: Diaspora: Netzwerke globaler Gemeinschaften

Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha (ed.)

Karlsruhe: KIT Scientific Publishing; Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) (2019), pp. 147-160

"Die Medien und die breite Öffentlichkeit zeigen sich oftmals verwundert über die Perfektion der IS-Propaganda. Dabei wird übersehen, dass der Medienkrieg des Pseudo-Islamischen Staats auf einer ‚Großen Erzählung', einer ‚Meistererzählung' basiert, an der dschihadistische Organisationen se ... more

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Transnationales Satellitenfernsehen: Bilder sprengen Grenzen

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui

In: Arabische Medien

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), pp. 39-50

"Transnationale arabische Satellitenfernsehsender sind immer noch die meistgenutzten Medien in fast allen Ländern der Region - sei es für Informationen oder Unterhaltung. Internetmedien werden ihnen vermutlich in den nächsten Jahren nicht den Rang ablaufen können. Stärkste Konkurrenz könnten w ... more

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Media Cities: Mediencluster als Mittel wirtschaftlicher Standortkonkurrenz

Almut Woller

In: Arabische Medien

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), pp. 51-61

"Vor dem Hintergrund der wirtschaftlichen Transformationsstrategie der VAE - Stichworte Emiratisierung und Diversifizierung - erscheint Dubais Medienpolitik in erster Linie als Medienwirtschaftspolitik, die dazu dient, den eigenen Standort im regionalen und globalen Wettbewerb um Investitionen zu st ... more

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Alltag und Medien: Mediatisierung in der arabischen Welt

Ines Braune

In: Arabische Medien

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), pp. 75-86

"Beide Beispiele, das der Frauen im ländlichen Ägypten und das der jungen Menschen in Marokko zeigen, inwiefern sozialer und medialer Wandel im Alltag neue Medienpraktiken und damit neue Handlungsoptionen eröffnen, die bestehende Machtmuster wie patriarchale Dominanz und geografische Marginalisie ... more

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Medien und Minderheiten in arabischen Ländern

Sebastian Elässer, Andrea Fischer-Tahir, Kristin Pfeifer

In: Arabische Medien

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), pp. 99-116

"Anhand von drei Beispielen, den Kopten in Ägypten, den Imazighen in Marokko und den Kurden im Irak dokumentieren die Autoren dieses Kapitels exemplarisch, wie unterschiedliche Bevölkerungsgruppen versuchen, durch eigene Medien ihre kulturelle, gesellschaftliche und politische Identität zu wahren ... more

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Arabische Medien
Deep Insights

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), 344 pp.

"Im Fokus des ersten Teils stehen transnationale Phänomene wie die Bedeutung des Satellitenfernsehens und der Sozialen Medien sowie die Rolle von Minderheiten, Gender und Islamisten in den Medien. Diese Beiträge geben den aktuellen Stand der Forschung wieder und reflektieren diesen. Im zweiten Tei ... more

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Facebook, Twitter & Co.: Die politische Rolle sozialer Netzwerkmedien

Maria Röder-Tzellos

In: Arabische Medien

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), pp. 63-74

"Mit Blick auf die Rolle sozialer Netzwerkmedien in arabischen Gesellschaften lässt sich resümierend festhalten, dass durch deren vielfältige Nutzungsmöglichkeiten während Protestphasen und unter den restriktiven Bedingungen autoritärer Herrschaft übergreifende bürgerschaftliche Identitäten ... more

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Islamistische Medien: Vom Wahabismus über die Muslimbrüder zum Cyber-Dschihad

Asiem El Difraoui

In: Arabische Medien

Carola Richter, Asiem El Difraoui (eds.)

Konstanz; München: UVK (2015), pp. 117-128

"Fast alle Medien des weit gefassten islamistischen Spektrums sind mit Ausnahme einiger weniger kommerzieller TV-Sender und Publikationen komplett von der Finanzierung ihrer "Mutterorganisationen" oder ihnen wohlgesinnter, oftmals ausländischer Staaten abhängig und werden somit zu politischen Inst ... more

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jihad.de. Jihadistische Online-Propaganda: Empfehlungen für Gegenmaßnahmen in Deutschland

Asiem El Difraoui

Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) (2012), 35 pp.

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Der Feind in unserem Netz: Wie bekämpft man Al-Kaida & Co. im virtuellen Raum?

Asiem El Difraoui, Guido Steinberg

Internationale Politik, issue Januar/Februar (2011), pp. 20-25

Arabische Medien Deep Insights

Arabische Medien
Deep Insights