Siria, civil war or media war?

What should information professionals do when activists replace journalists in the production of news? The dramatic conflict in Syria is a war fought on two fronts: military and media. The difficulty in getting first-hand information is that everything related to the real and actual course of events is filtered by a dense news network and more or less certified sources, which often rely on testimonials or videos put on the web by people who have an interest in giving their version of events. The fact that the Syrian government does not allow the presence of independent media in the country hardly helps matters.