The Sada Institute has surveyed a group of young Syrian men across various Syrian cities and cities in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey about the sources through which they learn news and the types of programs they follow, as well as their positions with regards to religion and political Islam.
The survey was composed of 1,050 samples in eight cities: Aleppo, Idleb, Damascus, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Istanbul, Beirut and Amman.
The response rate was about 58 percent for men, while for women it was about 42 percent. The target group ranged between the ages of 18 to 35 years old, with the largest focus of the survey on young people.
The poll was carried out between Apr. 1, 2019, to Apr. 25, 2019.
The results of the survey showed that 83 percent of the Syrian youth obtained their information and news from the internet, whether news or analytical or other sites, compared with 11 percent who obtained it from news channels and just four percent from printed media.
The extent of young people’s trust in what is broadcast by media and news sites in general with regards to Syria, 49 percent think that media sites and outlets are politicized and not at all trustworthy, while 13 percent believe they are trustworthy. Thirty-seven percent said that they only trust what they can verify.
Thirty-six percent of young people spend four hours following channels and internet sites, while 14 percent spend more than four, and 11 percent spend two hours, and nine percent spend just one hour.
The highest portion of young people (23 percent) follow sports programs more than others, while 21 percent follow news programs, and 17 percent prefer religious programs. The others are distributed among films, TV series and social programs.
With regards to how young people describe themselves in terms of religiosity on a scale of 1 (least religious) to 10 (most religious), most young people put themselves in the middle category, with 53 percent in the 6, 5, and 4 categories, with just one percent in 10 and nine percent in the lowest.
With regards to whether young people think that Islamist movements will be an active factor in creating Syria’s future, 27 percent said that Islamist movements are still the strongest despite their demonization, while 28 percent believed that Islamist movements had lost a historic opportunity at the beginning of the revolution and that the chance would not be repeated. Another 21 percent believed that Islamist movements had lost credibility by being preoccupied with seeking power like others.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
