BBC calls for foreign journalists to be allowed into Syria after minster's comments

The BBC has called for Syria to allow foreign journalists into the country after a spokesman for the Syrian information ministry said she thought it was the right move.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on the Today programme this morning, Reem Haddad, who is also the head of Syrian state television, told the broadcaster "you have a point".

"I agree, I think foreign journalists should be allowed in".

She added that the BBC has a journalist working for BBC Arabic in the country who could report on events. But BBC World News editor Jon Williams, who responded to her comments in a post on the Editors' blog, said local journalists are greatly restricted and often intimidated.

"There are few more frustrating experiences for a journalist than knowing a huge story is happening, but being unable to cover it," he wrote.

"Last week, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon suggested more than 1,000 people had died in Syria since the start of the violence.

"... All the time the BBC – and other news organisations – been forced to watch and report from outside the country. The Syrian authorities have refused to issue visas for international journalists."

He added that it "was good" to hear Haddad's comments, but treated them with some apprehension.

"It's not the first time a Syrian official has made promises on air. In March, President Assad's media advisor Buthaina Shabban promised the Today programme that the BBC could travel to Deraa – the seat of the uprising – to report from the city.

"Two local journalists working for the BBC were stopped and prevented from reaching Deraa. Two days later they were arrested and questioned for a number of days."

He added: "Eyewitness reporting is the only way we can really know what is going on – it's vital in providing a balanced picture of the story on the ground."

Journalism.co.uk reported in April that Al Jazeera's Arabic bureau in Syria was suspended for safety reasons amid reports that there had been restrictions on its activities and attacks on its staff.

One of its journalists Dorothy Parvaz was detained upon arrival in Syria in the same month. She was released in May, arriving back in Doha on a flight from Iran after reportedly being deported there during her detention.

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