The problem was that the media saw the phenomena of the Arab Spring as some sort of freedom fighting movement designed to create a better Arab world through the acquisition of rights, freedom and democracy after years of being kept stripped of individual rights by despots, dictators mired in the 7th century. These Arab Spring revolutionaries never thought of themselves other than freedom fighters in the guise of Arab extremism, Islam their rally cry, and all the time given support and encouragement in the achievement of the media’s version of Arab Spring which was always some sort of misguided liberal agenda that was never taken seriously by the likes of whom Arab Spring was license to become ever more extreme, violent and anti-West. More of the same glaring naive media mentality that brought us the man without portfolio the articulate Community Leader from Chicago.
More about the mess, and the negative work by Saudi and Qatar:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-foreign-nations-proxy-war-creates-syrian-chaos/2014/10/02/061fb50c-4a7a-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html
The news media embraced selective reporting to not tell us the origins of Al Qaeda as a rebel group, meaning that other rebellions in the Middle East were likely the work of similar organizations.