Syrian press lacks transparency: minister

Press could be good when it expresses the social issues in a modern language and the most important problem the Syrian media is suffering from is the lack of transparency, Minister of Information said today.

"The most important problem the Syrian press is suffering from is the lack of transparency in information sources and that they are not available in the appropriate time and form," Mehdi Dakhllala told journalists.

He noted that the development of the Syrian mass media is the journalist's responsibility and not the ministry. "Every press person must consider himself responsible for the press because the "conclusion of the press discourse is the responsibility of the press person himself and the ministry's role is to draw plans and general policies."

The statement came on the margin of a workshop on the how to develop the press in Syria. Participants called to develop the media structure and style and to depend on transparent and honest sources as well to keep away from narrative style and to be objective and critical.

Papers presented called to "put a strategic and integrated vision of aims with the society needs to defend them and to get the press out of its traditional role to match up with international developments and contribute to making knowledge by changing the information into a data."