“Through Our Eyes: Syria” is a first person documentary short that tells the story of Dr. Abu Bashir, a medical doctor on the frontlines of the crisis in Syria. Over the course of the piece, we see that in the Syrian suburb of Eastern Ghouta, a massacre is unfolding. Its residents have been under siege for almost 2,000 days and have been bombed relentlessly. Dr. Bashir has risked everything to show his life inside one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. NowThis’ Murrow Award-winning producer, Melissa Fajardo, spoke to Bashir daily and was able to see the violence, the fear, and the injustice that the area and its civilians face regularly. The footage is unsettling and disturbing, but highlights the reality on the ground. When asked what his message to the world is, Bashir said simply, “I want people in Eastern Ghouta to live in peace. So, no siege, no shelling, no bombing. That’s what we need. We have rights like everybody in this world.” NowThis published its documentary natively to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We created a special magazine edition on Snapchat, which was published over the course of three days. The views, engagement and audience engagement were some of the highest NowThis has seen on a longer-form piece, and is a testament to the deep reporting and visual innovation of the piece. The video had almost 750,000 views on Facebook – and a similar number on Snapchat.
