The Anatomy of Syrian Revolution YouTube Videos

Qifa Nabki noticed what resembles a common format in those revolution Youtube Videos:

They’re typically shot on a camera phone by a young Syrian male who begins by announcing the date and place of the video. We see scenes of bullet-scarred buildings, maybe a dead body. Sometimes, the videos are filmed during a battle scene: little puffs of concrete dust drift gently to the ground from a building or mosque that is allegedly under attack by machine-gun wielding troops or rebels. The violence is usually telegraphed: its perpetrators are invisible snipers or artillery commanders, improvised explosive devices and insurgents. We see the effects, hardly ever the crimes themselves.

As Elias noticed, the door is wide open for cynicism. To me what I find most baffling is the complete lack of good quality videos (with some notable exceptions). I understand why many videos are produced using mobile phones, but you can also get really good quality videos using some point-and-shoot cameras that are on sale everywhere, cheap and as easy to hide as phones. Even bandwidth is not an excuse because many Syrians are crossing to neighboring Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan. Is it possible that not a single good quality amateur video has slipped out?

Sometimes I feel that TV stations are intentionally lowering the quality of the videos to make them more “authentic” and “dramatic”.