All you’ve heard about on the news for the past few weeks have been Syria. The media has been all over the conflict in Syria and it’s all you ever get to hear about on the political agenda anymore.

But just take a step back. Forget your own personal opinion for just a second. Don’t worry, I’ll play along too; this has nothing to do with what I think is the right move or what you think is the right move. Just stop and forget your own opinion on the correct course of action. This is not about what is right or what is wrong politically. Step back and take a look at the bigger picture.

How do we get our information? How do we know what is going on around us? The media. From social networks to news channels and websites, the media is what gives us our information. Based off of this information we form ideas and suggestions come into play with our thinking. So if we form ideas from what the media tells us, we are very vulnerable to the media, right? Precisely. But you already understood that to some part; certain news channels or papers are going to be biased- they’ll try and convince you of something or another.

Now let’s apply this idea to Syria. Certain media sites or channels will probably try and convince you of a particular course of action to take in regard to the crisis. But in regard to Syria and the tensions in the Middle East, the media’s bias extends further than just what course of action to take. The media is extremely biased in its view on Syria and its people, not just on intervention in Syria. This article is about how Syria is portrayed by the media.

Take this picture and this quote for example:

This image was found on BBC news under the title, “Syria Profile”, as one of the three pictures used to give a general overview of the nation as of one week ago. The caption is “Syria’s conflict has steadily turned to a civil war.” This image however does not in any way show a legitimate conflict between the two sides. This picture looks far more like an extremely stereotypical image of a terrorist of Arabic origin. To validate my argument that there is in no way a ridiculous image like this came from a reporter, how on earth would a reporter or anyone be doing for that matter in a car with a man with an automatic weapon in the middle of the Syrian civil war taking pictures?!?! Obviously this is not a picture of the real event. Moreover, it is not an accurate representation of the real event. This kind of picture promotes the idea that the Middle East’s and Syria’s people are terrorists and the civil unrest is just terrorism. But it is these kinds of pictures of Syria that have been popping up all over social media and news media the last few weeks. What happens when people see images like this is they assume that this is what Syria and the civil conflict is like over there because it is the only source of information. Another idea on the media to keep in mind is how whenever you hear about the conflict, you do not hear the root of the conflict. Basically the media projects a terrible view of Syria and its people and this picture is a classic example of just how it promotes these kinds of ideas, but is just one of many.