New French-backed Syrian radio promises independent voice

Syrian journalists backed byFrance launched a Paris-based radio station on Wednesday thatwill broadcast deep into Syria, aiming to provide what they saidwould be independent coverage of the civil war.

Apart from their military conflict, the Syrian governmentand rebels are waging a propaganda war using television, radioand the Internet. Access for international media is restrictedby the Damascus authorities and by security constraints.

"For years we were in the shadow of a media dictatorship,"said Lina Chawaf, programme editor at Radio Rozana, whose Arabic name means the light that beams from a small house window.

"It's very difficult for journalists in Syria to break withthis, but the Syrian revolution was for freedom of expression."

Five Syrian journalists, including three who have leftSyrian state media, will broadcast and coordinate Rozana'scoverage from 30 correspondents based across Syria.

Rozana is financed by Canal France International, a Frenchmedia support agency funded by France's foreign ministry andDanish media non-profit organisation International MediaSupport. The French embassy in Syria is also providing money.

France, which backs the rebels in its former colony and hasdemanded President Bashar al-Assad's removal, has channellednon-lethal military equipment as well as medical aid throughoutSyria almost since the uprising began more than two years ago.

Several former Syrian state journalists, including OlaAbbas, who presented the news on state television and radio for15 years, have fled to France since the conflict began.

Asked whether the radio could remain independent, given thatit is French-based and partly French-funded, Chawaf said Rozanahad no "overseas agenda" or political objective.

"The priority is to hear the voice of Syrians inside Syria.They are suffering and being killed everyday. We want to supportthem," said Chawaf, who previously ran a private radio stationin Damascus dealing in part with delicate social issues.

French officials say the station, which will initiallybroadcast by satellite for three hours a day, is not beingsupported to relay anti-Assad propaganda.

The reporters, mostly activists in their mid-20s, have beentrained by the likes of media charity Reporters Sans Frontieres(RSF) in Turkey. They are based in government- and rebel-heldareas of Syria, and will not be identified for security reasons.

RSF places Syria near the bottom of its world press freedomindex. The government controls state media content entirely,censors the internet and spreads false information, RSF says.