Rotavirus outbreak special coverage on. This plate 633 strips so you go for that because it all of getting out the. Point. If. You want to come up with a quick by pretend hello im Richard Burton youre at the listening post among the media stories that were covering this week syria is a proxy war and the outside players turkey and russia are using their media muscle to shift the narrative in their favor coronavirus is still big news but dont believe everything you click on misinformation is making the rounds on social media pakistan wants to grow its Tourism Industry and to the influencers but how do they get to parts of the country that are close to pakistanis i think its pretty good and when it comes to anti muslim policies donald trump and the renter modi are singing from the same song sheet it was a bilateral meeting and it came at a tense time but it was altered in a ceasefire in syria specifically in live in the northwest neither of the 2 leaders in front of the news cameras however were syria there was the president of Russia Vladimir Putin and turkeys president heir to one both men have their forces stationed in syria the russians are backing fighters loyal to Bashar Al Assad in their push to take back it lip and turkish troops are trying to repel the syrian advance that is already forced another 1000000 people from their homes and worse and a catastrophic refugee crisis in the media battle to shape global perception. Russia has sputnik a state owned a news outlet operating in turkish amongst other languages and turkey has t r t world a state owned broadcaster with its own story to tell this conflict given the various proxy players and their objectives was never going to be easy for outsiders to understand and the news now coming out of russia and turkey the competing narratives theyre not helping our starting point this week is more than 2000 kilometers from adlib a capital city that has grown central to the syria story moscow. 2 leaders meeting in moscow discussing the fate of a 3rd country syria 6 hours later president s air to one m. P. To emerge with a ceasefire from the latest in hand but al assad must have been feeling slightly left out. A little feel but put on the message to be down the middle be he was in damascus being interviewed by russias primary state owned news channel 24. And. I dont know who the syrian leader was using his russian allies news outlet as a pipeline to deliver a message to the turkish people. And then. The battle for probably one of the most important unwritten chapters of the syrian conflict. Theres a concentration of the most hard core opposition to the Syrian Regime of Bashar Al Assad weve seen Bashar Al Assads offensive already displace 1000000 people with the potential to displace even more. Turkey the guarantor of the Syrian Opposition has entered the fray weve also seen russia now backing by charlottes side as their guarantor of both sides as they backed of rival factions inside syria and this has put stress on the relationship and this has found its way trickling down into the local medias of both countries. For much of the syrian war the media in turkey and russia have gone easy on the others government both sides have their objectives neither wants an escalation turkish reporters taking their cues from the air to one government have generally shied away from stories of russian war crimes in syria focusing their criticism on the kremlins allies in this fight the Assad Government forces. On the my little on february 27th that changed when 33 turkish soldiers were killed in airstrikes in the province of its been decades since that many turks have died in a single attack initial reports in the turkish media echoed the official line from on correct that the syrians were behind the bombing all too easy cheap quote a little too keen need houdini up to. Then they made jihad their fall before long turkish news outlets were changing their tune. You can therefore. Make me. Couple of days you started to see this kind of analysis on daily by so that was a long time prominent journalist unobjective face in the turkish media pundit article saying that its very clear that the ban this sudden regime planes bombarded turkey they were in formation with the russian planes so one way or another russians had information about this issue. And i think that just kind of a for other media for example the daily its front page talking about the russian role in the Syrian Civil War basically killing the civilians and. It was as if a taboo had been lifted and turkish Media Outlets took the gloves off directly blaming the russians for the casualties standing up there. With. The turkish authorities began turning their attention to Media Outlets in turkey that the kremlin control this starting with sputnik unlike russias best known media export r. T. Sputnik is not a 24 hour news channel its a news agency slash website slash radio platform and turkish is just one of 30 languages in which it operates as lattimer putin has said sputnik and r. T. Are owed to break the monopoly of anglosaxon Global Information string one particularly contentious piece produced by split nick was this one provocatively headline about the turkish province of her time which was once syrian territory at a time when more than 30 soldiers have been martyred some blaming the Russian Air Force for their deaths 2 printers stories so provocative about something that happened 80 years ago many people look at that story from a very very controversial very provocative manner as if the russians were trying to send a message to. The turks countered with a message of their own for support nick employees based in turkey were arrested that was after a mob attacked 3 of their homes and those reporters say they didnt even produce the story in question that it was filed by sputniks International Office in london cautions and even in the homes of our colleagues were attacked by groups of 15 to 20 people making. Racist. We dont know who they were or how they found i devise my colleagues to go to the police and file a complaint but after giving their statements they were taken into custody thankfully lawyers from the report to the south the nation and uncover how. Colleagues were released later in the evening there. With a. Partner who became kind of the target weve been turkey because it represents the Russian Point of view hands out of the gun its kind of trying to show his muscles but since he cannot really get budget we can sell for Russian Forces so he kind of attacks the weakest one and here in the media spotlight is really popular in turkey because of the tight control of turkish media by the turkish government a lot of stuff that not there to be published by the turkish journalist would appear on the spot and it publishes a lot of stuff that serves put his agenda just like the channel or russia today they continuation of soviet Media Outlets that were external audiences and important elements of soft power in turkey and really enjoys support of the russian government. Which is one of the reasons that russias foreign minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly got on the phone to our own corral to get those reporters released what our team is to russia t. R. T. World is to turkish state funded news platforms aimed at foreign audiences speaking their language but the turks are late comers to this party it was launched in 2005 putting russias spin on stories turkey didnt get t. R. T. World on the air until 10 years later in 2015. Turkey has only recently understood the importance of this catching up with other countries like the. The United States russia china france germany you already have multiple outlets broadcasting throughout the world in many different languages and were seeing other channels now slowly sprouting a news in english news provider. A news agency i know there was also now broadcast in english this is going to be very very important Going Forward for turkey as it continues to develop its Media Presence the us this. Is an official agency like sputnik therefore might be trying to reflect a few sputnik cannot see how using their own perspectives aljazeera must be using its own perspective as well people keep comparing sputnik the problem with this is an the us comparison there should be a benchmark of what can be called propaganda propaganda according to wants. To propaganda and it is. One of the reasons russian and other foreign Media Outlets are finding audiences in turkey is that there is a market for what they offer alternative narratives for 15 years president erda wants Party Government has brought in once vibrant turkish news organizations to feel forced channels and papers to close arrested scores of journalists and chased others into exile thats why turks are looking for news elsewhere and Vladimir Putins russia is more than happy to help. Were discussing other media stories that are on our radar this week with one of our producers Nick Muirhead next the coronavirus or covert 19 as its now known still topping the news agenda youve been looking at another side of this story not so much the information around the outbreak but the misinformation yes thats right richard and for the most part its happening on social Media Companies dot Facebook Twitter you tube making a concerted effort to pull down and delete misinformation but also to direct users to credit. The sources of information the real problem the tricky problem is actually on whatsapp where communications are encrypted says really hard to know what people are saying to one another whats on 2000000000 users so you can appreciate how misinformation can spread really easy on the platform so specifically what kind of misinformation is it that youre talking about theres a lot of fear mongering so inflates in the number of confirmed cases inflating the number of sites that have been contaminated but theres a large number of conspiracy theories about this corona virus being used as a bio weapon but as part of a plan to depopulate the world that coronaviruses man made theres even a politician in the u. S. By the name of john wright shes a republican whos also actually running for congress she tweeted that not only was the current a virus man made but she pointed the finger at people like bill gates George Soros Hillary clinton even the pope generated leads that tweet but then the conspiracy had gone viral so to speak so not a tall unlike some of the things that we were hearing out of china in the early days of the outbreak and also just like in china in the countries with confirmed cases there are a lot of fake and fake prevention measures being circulated on social media like eating garlic Drinking Water every 15 minutes spraying yourself with chlorine and alcohol and you know whats interesting is that the world hopeful going to has ation has been reluctant to call cave of 9000 a pandemic but its had no problem in calling this an info demick what it describes as an over abundance of information some accurate and some not that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it so really this is turned into a battle on 2 fronts for governments and Health Services trying to contain not only the outbreak but the misinformation as well ok thanks nick. Its a subject of social media that generates millions of dollars through billions of clicks travel blogging globe trotting social media influence sharing their quote unquote Authentic Travel experiences it pays for the influencers and for some of the countries they visit its a golden p. R. Opportunity pakistan for instance wants to shed its image as being too dangerous for tourists if you subscribe as so many have to travel bloggers like Rosie GabrielleJordan Taylor and evan back youll have seen a different side of pakistan one in which you can camp out in the khyber pass solo hike through the swat valley or discover beaches along the persian gulf a lot of this content comes with the governments seal of approval its out to capitalize on the p. R. Potential of photo genic visitors white ones with big online audiences listening posts and actually ravi now on the story behind pakistans social media make. Today we are on the recruitment of terrorists and. Running after them. But its done has an image problem too who are the Pakistani Taliban strike has killed a powerful Pakistan Taliban leader for years the headlines have been about drone strikes religious extremists domestic bombings and instability social and political and its where one of the biggest manhunts of modern times came to an end president obama broke the news of the last i think they seem like the generals most wanted man living in their midst just try building a Tourism Industry i dont all of that thats the job side has been tossed to it look i think its important to see focus on in the new lens and come out of that sort of post 911. Trauma but were going leaves and bounds beyond it so i suppose time the world also moves on with it. Is the kind of image problem that once upon a time when. Been outsourced to a p. R. Company based in new york or london it would have been managed through glossy ad campaigns in magazines or on television these days the trick is to bring on the influencers soon in this video im going to take you on an epic 6 day adventure to the north of pakistan today telegenic and adventurous equipped with anything from a smartphone and a selfie stick to a full camera crew with top of the range equipment they create some of the most popular and impactful travel videos today. Have it turned out to be one of the most surprising adventures of my life because themselves experts vagabonds professional travelers expedience seekers and they are key to the comeback that pakistans Tourism Industry wants to make. Interesting there always are these. Almost completely white westerners shot hard theres obviously a Global Industry where nation states are looking project certain images about themselves and gary out. Takes its terrorist country. For the pakistani state is neither unique nor doing something particularly unprecedented. When i went to pakistan what i saw was a country that was completely different from pretty much everything you see in the news its a really interesting situation because i feel that the bloggers in the bloggers kind of came 1st and it was only after a little while that the pakistani government noticed that these people are coming and creating beautiful continent that talks nicely about the country. He was the back is from poland over the last yeah i chopped pakistan and why with food. 163000. 00 subscribers on youtube and almost as many on instagram she is among the top travel bloggers out there shes posted from yemen saudi arabia mexico even syria and the access she got in pakistan was extraordinary. What. Has made films from adventure locations like the key to mountain in northern pakistan and from some locations that many pakistanis would like to visit but cannot. In september 2900 american in the remote valley of the stand and took a lift from the Pakistani Air force to get there and then there were the videos she made in the other the port city in the southwestern region of baluchistan. Baluchistan has long had an insurgency on its hands and is a closed off no go zone for the majority of pakistanis it is also a black hole for news and information most pakistani journalists arent allowed to go there but a travel blogger from poland did. She says that you know how baluchistan has a potential to be the next beach destination of this region and yes of course the beaches of god there are stunning but at the same time theyre also inaccessible and you can write me this nation if its restricted for a common traveler to actually go to these areas and if a foreigner looks at that video when it comes to pakistan and you know wants to have a luxury week asian on the beach there is no infrastructure available there to make that happen what was very obvious is that iran and a quite a few others. Had access to parts of pakistan that pakistanis dont have. A very controlled environment with which conversation baluchistan happened via is a lot of political unrest there but also the fact that a lot of talk about iran is allegedly based on this speculation obviously. This facilitation is being done by the state i think there is a bit of a misconception that as foreign travel bloggers we are given access to more places than local travel bloggers or even just local travelers and thats not quite true and i think its frankly quite silly of people to suggest that that the content that i make is being controlled or are constrained by. The state that i mean im not being censored by anyone i create my own travel content in the way that i like it in the way that i experience and thats all there is to. The pakistani government has partnered with social Media Influencers both domestic and international its clear though that western bloggers. Are a big part of the tourism push last year and other influencers like trevor James Andrews he got from canada and Alexandra Reynolds from the us how did all. Audience with the Prime Minister imran khan local bloggers were left out. That is he did many pakistanis who say their government is reinforcing the social prejudices of a bygone colonial era the idea that westerners have more credibility than pakistani or the notion that quote white is right that a white persons word outweighs that of a brown person even when the brown person is from the country in question meetings at this point with the chairman of Pakistans National tourism coordination board i dont think its anything but important to even discuss in an interview to be honest i dont think its. You know. The day. Country subconsciously i think you listen to the person from the outside so you know when you have local bloggers and they do the exact same thing or maybe even better its difficult for them to comprehend or believe it until maybe an italian guy an american guy comes and does it was my 1st thought i was trying. To squeeze take me back to yes. There is also. A really regressive that demeans our entire population so lets reinforce there and the fact that you know hes brazenly admitting that our local elites are not interested in challenging this really reprehensive. Way of thinking but rather looking to reinforce that. Its none of that seems to have got the message that pakistani bloggers most accept this kind of treatment plus its not good what prominent you do digital publishing. This years meeting between the Prime Minister and social Media Influencers had a different look the bloggers were all pakistani. Optical missteps aside the government says its tourism push is making an impact with the influencers and do. Work getting up cycled on to more traditional established platforms magazines like conde nast and forbes just looking at how quickly the image of pakistan has changed and can literally 18 months thats huge i mean the country was almost off limits to most travelers were like a decade and then all of a sudden everything changed i think it shows the power of social media and the power of social media of travel blog in general the un chief who recently was it he said that pakistan has made an remarkable journey from country of terrorism to do a resume so people do see these things changing but i think now is the time when you actually start spending on infrastructure and. Building more jails and i think its also important that people have information about the ground realities to didnt really come with an expectation that were going to be fulfilled. And finally donald trump recently spent 36 hours in india just long enough to cement his bromance with Prime Minister and around remoting not a lot came out of the meeting in the way of substance however there were some Opinion Pieces in the media comparing modis brand of hindu nationalism with the american president s approach to muslim immigrants and it all took place as violence was escalating on the streets of new delhi over that contentious new citizenship law an American Production Company called g. s e arrow has picked up on the similarities between trump and modi its posted on music video populated by puppets called. The strongman song well see next time. Its. Just. A great. Feeling. Pretty. Much. Like a big back. And. So do i. Its. Like a strong. Feeling. I did. I had back yesterday. To be in there make you stay in the. Good people love me so. Beautiful. So slap my name. Like. You. Really i had one before. Because. Lets make it good. Either. As surely as native fauna and flora are accustomed to busch riots this season has been unprecedented landscapes usually left unscathed have been decimated. This bush tries season has burned through millions of hacked as of land destroying the how the tides of many native animals some of these forests will take decades to regenerate and others may never recover. These baby kangaroos joeys whole foods theyre now in cared for many animals who do make it out of the fires they soon face on the problem in a phone bill to cats and dogs and and to contact as surely as famed plants and animals are strong part of the countrys identity many of its species of found nowhere else in the world and the extent of the damage isnt clear again. For those who do survive its a long and painful road to recovery. Americans live side by side in 2 parallel universes the truck parts of america are getting trampy or there was a poll out a few weeks ago that you had almost 30 percent americans believing they were on the cusp of civil war both sides accuse each other of doing things that are so blatantly wrong the bottom line on u. S. Politics and policy is a matter of fact on the world. Investigating the use and abuse of power across the globe on aljazeera. This is aljazeera. Had a barrel mcleod this is news of life and coming up in the next 60 minutes its only quarantines a quarter of its population towns and cities including. Invented lockdown over the current of hours. Iran reports a sharp increase in coronavirus death spring in the total to 194. 00 but one Government Official says that number could be much higher. Silence from saudi arabia as more arrests are reported to the detention of 2 senior princes and the