'Does anyone believe that even the few websites or Twitter contributors that supported Assad were ever being paid? Because I dont and on a relative scale they pale into utter insignificance against western corporate media.' - Nope, evidence would be nice for the lurid claim but I don't think any has ever come forward. I think Aaron Mate got accused of 'taking Assad money' because a journalism award he won was partly funded by a charity operating in Syria, but that was the best his critics could come up with. Also, nobody in the msm would dare to investigate the Israeli influence on their output. Obviously that would just be an antisemitic trope...