A meeting with Diana Jabbour

Damascus, Syria

I have not thus far, met with as many people on this trip as I had intended, as there has usually been something of far greater importance going on. Either there is a war, a riot, a demonstration to overthrow the government, threat of war, meeting to avoid war - you get the drift. I have however been rather more fortunate in Syria where people are quite accessible.

And so it was that I met with Diana Jabbour, Director of Syrian TV, one evening in her office in Damascus. Vivacious and dynamic she graciously spent much longer with me than I had asked for. I began by asking her the obvious; did she feel that she had had to work harder to get where she is than a man would have had to do, and being a woman was she more under scrutiny in such a high-profile position than would be the case if the position was held by a man.

She said she had gained from what other women had done before her - that they had planted the seed, and she was the benificiary. She agreed that “I have the sense of representing women as an entire sex - if I fail, I don’t just fail as a person, I fail for the entire female sex.” She went on to say that she thought  the biggest professional challenges she faced were on one level "to make the broadcasting center more efficient and to try to push the limits a little every day - when we discover it is safe we continue, we are expanding the freedoms” . 

On that note I asked her about the freedom of expression she felt she had on political or ‘controversial’ matters. She said she felt as a citizen that there were “some demands domestically”, but when she felt those demands could be exploited by external interests she prohibited herself (from getting into such a situation.) She added, “Politics is not against dignity. The decision to preserve our dignity is a mutual one between leaders and citizens.”

Continuing the thread we talked about why Syria seemed so unable to promote itself - why was it not better able to represent itself in the West and what, if anything, could she and the media do to change that?

She thought it was a cultural thing that they were not good at - it was not the Syrian way to talk about and explain itself. But she added; “When the West was open-minded towards us development was faster and smoother . You have to keep a balance between dignity and internal demands. We hope that won’t be misrepresented and used against us.” She added that different cultures needed dialog - needed to speak to each other. “To promote ourselves is a political need, our job is to promote ourselves to the West within our own perspective. “

I then asked how al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite channels had affected state media - had they taken a chunk of their audience or did people still watch their local state media? She asked first if I meant the Middle East in general or just Syria. I said “Syria”, to which she replied, “Local media was not a source of information. Al-Jazeera has helped us become more efficient. It has a role in the treatment of events. Political changes needed to be handled through different voices even in the official media.”

She said she would like to see the media as a bridge between citizens and the authorities, to have the ability to “promote ourselves as we are, not to enhance ourselves, but to speak to the issues facing us and to solve them. Our development mission question is how we can achieve this in a compelling way, not a lecturing way.”

She added it should not be forgotten that TV was also entertainment, “if you’re not happy, you don’t participate”.

I asked what her message would be for Arab women - her answer was she hoped to see more job opportunities available regardless of gender, and a wish to see more women in high-ranking jobs. She said gender differences give different points of view in life which enrich everyone. She cited the following example; “in gatherings of exclusively men or women, they use slangy and sometimes impolite language and gestures amongst each other, but when the gatherings are mixed both sides tone it down and try to present the best sides of themselves.

I asked finally what was her message as an Arab woman to Western women; “I don’t demand that they be more fair, I demand they get to know me better and then they can judge me as they like.”