Editorial: Rumours Fly

Since the fall of the [Baathist] regime, it has become apparent that rumour has a bigger impact on people than the government. Political, economic and security concerns make it easy for certain voices to weaken the relationship between people and government. Another reason for this is that those who live at the people’s expense seek to spread such rumours. This happened on June 18, when certain weak individuals published newspaper stories suggesting that the price of petroleum products was to rise; this prompted black market traders to double their prices. The motive for creating such rumours is to widen the gap between the people and the government, both of which are making mistakes: the authorities should be transparent and make people aware of everything they do. The government needs to make citizens feel they are part of the issues that affect their political, economic and social circumstances. Citizens, for their part, should not believe everything they hear; they need to check things out before taking decisions. Let us work together to eliminate rumours and build our economy. Public interests should prevail over private ones.