With a correspondent office and a permanent visa in Syria, TV 2 DANMARK and correspondent Rasmus Tantholdt will be closer to the developments in Syria, which have implications far beyond the Syrian borders.

As the only Western television station, TV 2 has obtained a permanent visa in Syria and will now open a correspondent office there. This gives TV 2 far better opportunities to cover the development of  the country, which for months has received more attention than probably any other country in the world.

- The war in Syria has cost 250,000 lives, has produced a refugee flow of 10 million people and has had consequences far beyond the Syrian borders. The whole world is following the developments in Syria, but the vast majority of the media reporting on the crisis there are not even present in the country. After a long process, and as the only Western television station, we can now open a correspondent office in the Syrian capital Damascus, which is a unique opportunity. The presence in Syria brings us closer to the reality and the developments in the country, and that is one of the core tasks of a news department, says TV 2 news director, Mikkel Hertz.

With a correspondent office and a permanent visa, it will be much easier for TV 2 to get into Syria and to stay there as long as the TV Station finds it necessary.

Rasmus Tantholdt in TV 2’s office in Syria on Wednesday, March 16th. (Photo: Claus Borg Reinholdt / TV 2)

Rasmus Tantholdt to report from Syria
TV 2 correspondent Rasmus Tantholdt, who has traveled extensively in Syria in recent years, producer Claus Borg Reinholdt, a cameraman, and local aides, will periodically man the correspondent office in Damascus. Tantholdt, who is in Damascus right now, is looking forward to the increased possibility to cover the developments in Syria.

- With an office in Damascus, we come closer to the action and the truth. That’s a better starting point for filtering out the propaganda emanating from all the warring parties, not least from the Syrian regime, says Rasmus Tantholdt, who is fully aware that the Syrian regime is trying to influence Western media reports.

- That’s something we are very much aware of. The best solution would be to have an office both in Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of Islamic State, in Aleppo, where several rebel groups are fighting, and in Damascus, so that we could cover the conflict from all sides. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. It’s far too dangerous to venture into areas controlled by the terrorist movement called Islamic State, but it is also too risky to have a fixed base at sites controlled by other rebels, says Rasmus Tantholdt.

The experienced TV 2 foreign correspondent and his colleagues and aides will be based in a relatively peaceful area in the Syrian capital.

- It’s always a risk to stay in a country at war, but we will be living in a relatively peaceful neighbourhood compared to many other regions in the country. We have travelled a lot in Syria, and we use our experience to take good care of ourselves, says Rasmus Tantholdt.

Read the article in Danish here.