“We are still walking in the footsteps of a professional media” … Aso News Network: March and challenges ahead as it is close to the fifth year

(Syria today is experiencing many crises in fact, among them the truth crisis, with the expansion of the media space, with the emergence of the new Syrian media, but the latter, which is considered anti-authority, fell into the trap of bias in a wide area, and coinciding with the presence of the print and audio-visual press, digital journalism was able to Taking a large part of the share of the media, especially with the spread of social media, which filtered a new type of journalism, and imposed itself on reality, which requires that press institutions and individual journalists keep pace with this development) ..

Four years ago (2016), the Aso News Network project began, with a voluntary idea and simple efforts, that came in conjunction with the liberation of the city of Manbij from the Islamic State(Daesh). Confronting terrorism was one of the most important requirements at the time, and in the belief that the establishment or contribution to the formation of a real media in the region, in addition to the necessity of the requirements of the reality in Syria after the 2011 movement, to contribute to a national media as well as local media. From here, the Aso News Network, in North-East Syria, started from the necessity of building a local and community press / media, capable of organizing the image to complement the reality, the slogan that the Network took, with the aim of getting closer to people’s lives and living their reality and experiences, especially since the mosaic of the region began to suffer From extremism, incitement and hate speech, with the spread of “terrorist ideology” in the vicinity and within the region, and the meaning here is “North and East Syria”, so it was imperative to oppose thought, and to work from the belief in the idea of ​​change, and the need to strengthen the creation of a fourth authority capable of interpreting and taking reality Towards democracy for the country’s future.

Despite the challenges of reality, the primitive work of the local authorities produced by the circumstances, the weak community awareness, and the impact of the people to experience an authoritarian reality in Syria for decades; The authority that created many obstacles and prevented development, including free media, freedom of expression and human rights, and despite all these challenges that stand in the way, the work team was able to take the right path by raising the banner of objectivity and professionalism, and respecting the values ​​and ethics of journalistic work. Journalism is one of the team’s most important values.

The Network was launched in Serêkaniyê / Ras Al-Ain on October 21, 2016, with one management and one executive team. A team that manages the Network as an institution, and a team that works on the ground with volunteer efforts, made up of academics, journalists, activists, citizen journalists and hobbyists.

The network was launched with a small team, which started growing day after day, undertaking the responsibility of participating in the tasks of changing society, and wanted to be a mirror that reflects reality, with simple capabilities and capabilities, associated with the reality and conditions of the war in which Syria is living, realizing that reality is not ideal in the way that leaves the field In order to develop and work comfortably, the institution witnessed, in recent years, experience from a changing reality, and did not stop at the limits of opposing the widespread ideology of terrorism, but also sought to research balances and political and military variables in Syria, as well as the economic and living conditions that the people experience, and the conditions of migration, displacement, or being displaced,
Voluntary and coercive migration, apart from the phase of fiextremism, the network worked to keep pace with the return of life again, until the phase of the occupation of areas in North-East Syria by Turkey began, starting in Afrin, then Serêkaniyê / Ras al-Ain and Girê Sipî / Tal Abiyad, where the changes were on the ground. It imposes itself, and then the appear of Corona pandemic, which obliged us in the institution to work according to circumstances, changes, and diligence with a global pandemic.

The Aso News Network has effectively contributed to the visibility of community media in the region, and was able to record a number with the efforts of its staff and institutionalize its work, as it was the voice of people, and a mirror that reflects the image of society at home and abroad, and was able to bypass the circumstances and give a good and large space to work in modern digital journalism, And to create a new type of “online” journalism in the region, where a large part of the work depends on electronic work and remote “online” dealing, and this had various challenges, but with the spread of the Corona virus phenomenon, the network had good, great capacity and experience in the field of remote work.

Aso News Network tried to establish an ethical and social environment, by being close to people and showing them in its content respecting their rights, and to be in the footsteps close to all media institutions, accepting until now and in the future any direction, guidance and criticism, as well as an initiative towards establishing media gatherings, and it has contributed on more than one occasion, in establishing partnerships with other institutions, and also, as an institution, it supported the work of civil society in the region, and it was close to everyone with the aim of developing society, and on the gender side, the Network has a large space for women to work, and the majority of the team’s workers are women and also Women occupied the management of the executive office of the institution for two terms, because the network believes that the work is for those who produce and be effective, far from thinking about the status of gender, a man or a woman, except for the position assigned to childhood that the institution’s work contains.

Today we are on the threshold of the fifth year; We hope to continue serving the people and take the role of the media in the advancement of society, and actively contribute to changing society according to circumstances and capabilities, and we also seek to institutionalize the institution more intensively, and continue to work, and our goal of that is to be part of the change in society, and to rehabilitate and develop ourselves further.

As we move towards the fifth year, we realize that the world is living in front of a human pandemic, and the institution sees itself responsible to the community to work on educating people and contribute to removing the threat of the pandemic from them, as well as raising the slogan of community cohesion, rejecting hate speech, and standing against incitement to violence and action to promote media work, faith in the role and effectiveness of youth, and strive to establish an advanced media capable of being effective in changing societies towards democracy and justice in which the Network believes, as well as believes in human rights values ​​and charters, and raises the banner of commitment to the values, principles and ethics of journalism …

Together, towards a world of peace
A world free from danger
A world free from the COVID-19 pandemic
Together to build a journalism and media capable of developing society
Serdar Malla Darwish
The General Manager of ASO News Network