Arta FM has established a reputation as a reliable source of local news and information, not only among its listeners, but also for other media outlets and civil society organisations inside and outside Syria.
As a non-partisan community radio station with no political or religious agendas, it has established a reputation as an independent “voice of people” on matters that concern them.
For these reasons, Arta FM has become the radio number one in the Jazeera region, also known as the Hasaka province, as evidenced by various independent audience research studies.
Audience research commissioned by Free Press Unlimited and released in January 2021 found that Arta FM was by far the most popular and listened-to radio station in north-east Syria.
Similarly, audience research commissioned by IREX in 2017 and 2019 found that Arta FM ranked #1 out of 51 stations in the Hasakah (Jazeera) region. 90% of the respondents mentioned Arta FM when asked unprompted what radio stations they were familiar with, and 93% said they preferred Arta to all other media outlets in the region.
Previous studies also support these findings. In 2015, Arta FM had a listener share of 37.5% in the Jazeera region, according to an independent survey conducted by the Washington-based Navanti Group.
In terms of reputation, the above-mentioned audience research commissioned by IREX found that 50% of the respondents indicated that Arta FM had “the most credible news on Syria”, while 63% indicated that it was “a primary source of news and information.”
An in-depth study on the “role and impact of alternative media groups on the Syrian conflict” in 2017, conducted by the Syrian NGO Badael, with support from HIVOS and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, found that, in the Autonomous Administration region in north-east Syria, Arta FM was perceived by the participants as “the best media outlet” among all media outlets in covering civic events on all levels (speed, accuracy, details and balance).
For political events, Ronahi TV was ranked first, followed by Rudaw TV and Arta FM. However, Rohani was perceived as “misleading, emotional, exaggerative and intimidating”, whereas Arta FM was ranked as “the outlet with the most balanced coverage”. Arta FM was also ranked first in the “levels of news sharing” by the audience, followed by Yekiti Media, Buyer Press and Ronahi TV.
