While it may not be surprising to many Syrian expatriates that Syria was ranked second from the last out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index (WFPI), it might surprise them to know that, for the first time, their homeland ranked lower than North Korea.
Published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the WPFI is an annual ranking of countries based on the organization’s assessment of the press freedom records for each country in the previous year. The methodology for determining the WPFI was dramatically changed in 2022 with scores now being evaluated according to five distinct categories: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and safety.
With a confidence born of each regime’s long history of being able to keep its population living in ignorance, the pattern of controlling public opinion through propaganda and maintaining tight control of the press has repeated itself over and over again in both North Korea and Syria. But the similarities between the autocratic regimes in North Korea and Syria don’t end there.
just as the state-controlled media in North Korea has consistently upheld the personality cult of the Kim family since the country’s formation, state-controlled press outlets in Syria have done the same for the Assads
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was first established on September 9, 1948, and has been ruled by the Kim family ever since. The first Premier, Kim Il Sung, had been cultivated and supported by what was then the U.S.S.R. North Korea has only had two other rulers since then. Kim Jong II has led North Korea since the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un after he died in 2011. Afterward, Kim Jong Il was declared ‘Eternal General.’
In the same manner, Syria has been ruled by the Assad family since Hafez Assad became ‘president’ by way of a military coup in 1970. When Hafez died in 2000, his son Bashar who had already been groomed to take his father’s place, became president even though the age requirement stated in Syria’s constitution had to be quickly changed to accommodate him.
And just as the state-controlled media in North Korea has consistently upheld the personality cult of the Kim family since the country’s formation, state-controlled press outlets in Syria have done the same for the Assads. Both countries withheld the news of their leaders’ deaths for two days, Hafez Assad’s death in 2000, and Kim Jong II’s death in 2011, in an attempt to control the narrative as well as the transition of power that resulted from the deaths of their glorified leaders.
media reports in Syria are often biased and exaggerated, providing propaganda for the Assad regime
In his book The Great Teacher of Journalists, the late Kim Jong II advised that “newspapers carry articles in which they unfailingly hold the president in high esteem, adore him and praise him as the great revolutionary leader”. As in North Korea, media reports in Syria are often biased and exaggerated, providing propaganda for the Assad regime and playing little if any role in gathering and disseminating vital information based on verifiable facts.
Journalists in North Korea are required to belong to the Worker’s Party. They are not even accepted as candidates for journalism school unless they come from politically reliable families and can prove themselves to be ‘ideologically clean.’ In Syria, journalists must belong to the ruling Ba’ath Party and pledge their loyalty to Assad and the regime. In both countries, journalists who do not abide by the rules risk punishment. In North Korea, this often means being forced to do hard labor, imprisonment, or execution.
it is not only Syrian journalists who are subjected to such a fate. Foreign journalists who have been unfortunate enough to be captured by the regime have also suffered the same fate
In Syria, more often than not defying the regime in an attempt to report the truth has meant arbitrary arrest and torture which frequently results in death. Many times, the families of those who have been arbitrarily detained are forced to pay ransoms to secure his or her release. Even if a journalist is ultimately freed and succeeds in leaving the country, he or she may spend a lifetime dealing with the trauma of such horrific abuse even while living in exile. And it is not only Syrian journalists who are subjected to such a fate. Foreign journalists who have been unfortunate enough to be captured by the regime have also suffered the same fate.
Despite both regimes’ attempts to block their citizens’ access to foreign media, people in Syria as well as North Korea have been finding ways to connect to the outside world. Draconian penalties and strict regulations have not stopped North Koreans, particularly elite citizens, from gaining access to news and other media outside the state-controlled media and it is estimated that approximately “92% of North Koreans access foreign media at least once a month.”
While Syrians still struggle with routine electricity cuts and internet blocks, they have also managed to maintain connections that help them stay informed of what goes on beyond their borders, even though they must continue to be aware that they are most likely being watched at all times. Regardless of the challenges being faced by information seekers in both of these autocratic countries, it is a fact that the internet has made it far more challenging for authoritarian leaders to keep their people ignorant and ill-informed about what is really happening in their own countries as well as the rest of the world.
