For more than three decades before the fall of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime in 2003, the Iraqi media was controlled by the government. Print, radio and T.V. news outlets were all run by the ministry of information which was directly monitored by the regime itself. The main headlines of the newspapers had to be about the president, and it was the same for radio and television stations. Everyone who became a journalist had to write and report the way the government wanted and blindly follow their policy and actions.

During the period of Saddam's reign there was no room for critics; no one could say anything against the policy of the regime. Saddam's family had to be praised all the times. Stories, features, songs, lyrics, films etc were all about them and how great they were. This ended in April 2003 when the US led coalition forces ousted the regime.

Unlike the middle and southern Iraq, the Kurdish region in the north enjoyed a semi-independent state starting in 1991. The media was divided totally between the main two parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP. In 2000, Hawalti (Citizen) was the first Kurdish independent newspaper to be published.

While there is a certain level of press freedom in Iraq, major challenges exist as well. The legacy of the regime's control over the media is still reflected in news stories. And the Iraqi media still faces huge obstacles such as new government regulations and the Iraqi militias after more than three years of "press freedom" in Iraq. Militias and militants are a big threat on the free and independent media, and party-run newspapers and radio stations dominate the news market. Journalists in most parts of Iraq have to risk their lives in order to file a story or cover an event. The risks of being kidnapped by militias, killed in an explosion, arrested by the US or Iraqi forces and caught in the cross-fire of fighting are all common for journalists in Iraq -- especially for Iraqi journalists. This research will shed light on the status of media in Iraq after the 2003 war and analyze the situation in the country.

Pre-War Exile Media

Most of the journalists who didn't want to work for the Iraqi controlled media fled to other countries in the Middle East and Europe. There, they either established their own newspapers (which in most of the cases were not successful because they could not survive financially) or they worked with other media in their countries of exile.

Perhaps the most successful example of a newspaper published by Iraqi journalists in exile is Azzman (Time.) Saad Albazzaz was the editor-in-chief of the famous government newspaper, Al-Jumhuryia (The Republic) until he fled to England in 1992. In 1997 he established Azzaman Press & Publication Company in London. Azzaman soon became one of the leading Arabic international newspapers. The newspaper was internationally published in London and after the war the company added the Baghdad edition. The London international edition is still run and the company also runs the Alsharqiya (The Eastern) T.V satellite channel.

The opposition parties in exile were using radio and newspapers (mostly in mountains areas in the north or neighboring countries like Syria and Iran) against the regime. The radio signals reached many places in Iraq, but they were blocked by the Iraqi anti-radio coverage. The newspapers were hardly reaching Iraq, in fact they were not regularly published and were only read in places where Iraqi exiles were living such as Iranian camps and Syrian cities.

Post-War Media

After the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003, dozens of newspapers immediately launched. For the first time in more than 30 years, people could see different images and headlines on the front pages than just Saddam. The press became totally free, with no government watching over them. Newspapers and radio stations could tell people what was going on in the country in the way the things were happening, not in the way that the authorities wanted. Most of the newspapers, radio stations and T.V. channels were divided into three types:

1. The Government Media: Following the U.S.-led invasion the Iraqi Media Network television station was launched. The station was sponsored by the coalition forces. Later the organization was named Iraqi Media Net, the television station's name was changed to al-Iraqiya and al-Sabah (The Morning) newspaper was published as a government publication.

2. Political Party Media: Almost all of the political factions started their own media to serve as mouthpieces of their parties. Some were publishing even before the fall of the regime in the areas that were not under Baathist control, such as al-Ittihad, (The United) from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and al-Taakhi (The Brotherhood) by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

3. Independent Media: Azzaman launched its Baghdad edition while Hawlati in the north continued publishing. After awhile some other newspapers emerged such as al-Sabah al-Jadeed (The New Morning,) which was launched in 2004 after the staff split from al-Sabah. Some of the staff, including the editor in chief Ismail Zayer, accused the coalition authorities of intervening in their work. Many independent newspapers could not survive financially, however. Immediately after the fall of the regime, dozens of newspapers were launched, especially in Baghdad. An era of the free press in Iraq started (1).

The Coalition Provisional Authority and the Media

From April 2003 until March 2004 there was not any government supervision or regulations over the media. Everybody was free to establish newspaper, radio or television station with getting a license from the authorities, which was just a routine procedure. In March 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority, CPA, was established as a transition government following the invasion of Iraq in May 2003, and L. Paul Bremer became the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq.(2) The freedom of the press in Iraq was almost absolute and many journalists were proudly saying that it was a golden age for journalism.

In June 10, 2003 the CPA announced the Code of Conduct to regulate how the media worked in Iraq, which was seen as a first attempt towards controlling media in the country. The code was mainly to ban what the CPA referred to as news and statements run by the media that were hateful or incited violence. "Disseminating material that incites violence … poses a direct threat to personal freedom," the order read. Those materials were "banned under terms of this order." The order also outlined the potential punishment for any media organization that was found to have violated the order. The punishment included withdrawing licenses, closing the establishment and confiscating the prosperities. Violators also faced penalties, including one year imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. The order left room for journalists to appeal the decision (3). But the order still worried journalists. The problem was: how could a journalist or a writer know which were hateful and inciting articles? Some believed the order was created so that news organizations would impose self-censorship. "How can they say we have a democracy?" Eshta Jassem Ali Yasseri, editor of the satirical weekly Habezbooz, told The New York Sun when the code was proposed. "That's not democracy. It sounds like the same old thing." (4) Bremer ordered the establishment of the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission, which was responsible for licensing and regulating telecommunications and broadcasting. The order, No. 65 was dated March 20, 2004. It declared that one of the purposes of the commission was to "Promote and defend freedom of the media and assist the media community in Iraq to develop, strengthen and maintain professional working practices that support the media's role as a public watchdog." (5)

The commission started working as an independent body to regulate the media and also telecommunications. But the commission's work focuses more on the field of telecommunications. Even the commission's website doesn't provide much information about the media work and environment in Iraq. During the elections in Iraq, the commission provided the Code for Media during Elections and Media Codes and Ethics.

The Kurdish Media

For more than a decade, the Kurds in the north enjoyed a semi-independent state enforced by the U.S. no-fly zone over the region. However, the situation for journalists remained difficult. The media was totally controlled by the two main rival parties, PUK and KDP. The Kurdish region was a civil war from 1994-1998, during which time many people were killed and thousands were internally displaced. Independent (non-party) media was almost impossible until 2000, when Hawlati newspaper was established by a number of independent intellectuals and journalists and published by a private print house.

Hawlati was established to be "The voice of those who have been marginalized," wrote Asos Hardi, the former editor-in-chief who is now running another independent newspaper called Awene (The Mirror), in the pilot issue's editorial. He wrote that the newspaper was for "those who are not affiliated with the political parties and have no place to say what they want." (6)

Awene and Hawlati newspapers are two independent news outlets in the Kurdish north. Their staff members and correspondents have faced problems with the authorities, however. The authorities have tried to sue Hawlati several times and in 2005 they managed to take Hawalti to court in accusing the newspaper for publishing a false story. The judge verdict was against the newspaper; both former and current editors were sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined $50 each. The prison sentences were commuted with the stipulation that the editors not publish errors for the next three years.

Kurdish journalists have made several attempts to reveal corruption in the government and criticize the officials, but most of the writers were either threatened or arrested.

For example, a New York Times article published on July 1, 2003 talked about how the main parties crack down on journalists who were criticizing the government. The KDP was running the western part of the region with it is capital in Erbil, had arrested three journalists for writing articles about the lack of opportunities for youth and questioning the party's finances. The journalists were later freed.

Nuradin Waisi, one of the journalists, told The New York times that he had received a death threat from a senior party official. He later fled to Syria. Goran Salih, another of the journalists, told the same newspaper that the party officials had threatened him. "They said I will see much trouble in my life if I keep writing in that direction." (7)

The situation in Iraqi Kurdistan also continued to deteriorate through 2006, when dozens of journalists were arrested and officials started cracking down on independent journalists. Hawlati newspaper is chased by the officials and its journalists have been harassed and arrested on various occasions.

Iraq: The Most Dangerous Place for Journalists

The freedom that the press enjoyed in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, didn't last long. The area has become more and more dangerous for journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, listed the country as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists to work in 2005. The following list has been selected from the CPJ's lists of journalists killed in Iraq. The cases reflect various threats, such as being killed by the US army, suicide bombings and militant groups (8).

In fact the first journalist that was killed in Iraq because of the US led invasion was Terry Lloyd, a British journalist who was working for ITV News. He was killed in crossfire on March 22, 2003, in Basra province near Al-Zubayr by gunfire from the American military. The Guardian newspaper described Lloyd as, "One of ITN's most experienced war zone correspondents." (9)

Paul William Moran, an Australian freelancer, was the first journalist to be killed by a suicide bomber in northern Iraq. This incident occurred on March 22, 2003. Moran, a cameraman on assignment for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was the first victim of a terrorist act in Iraq. After his death, it was reported that Moran had also worked for the Iraqi National Congress to spread anti-Saddam propaganda during the build-up of the war. (10)

Tareq Ayyoub, Al-Jazeera satellite channel's correspondent in Iraq, was killed by a US air strike in Baghdad on April 8, 2003. Some believed that the US was taking revenge on the channel for its anti-war position, especially because the channel's bureau was also attacked in Afghanistan in 2001 by US forces. The US said its forces were fired on from the building where Al-Jazeera was housed. "This morning the Jazeera bureau was bombed by Americans that resulted in the martyrdom of Tareq Ayyoub, a Jazeera correspondent, and Zuhair al-Iraqi, a cameraman," read an al-Jazeera statement said on its website. "Is this an indication that American forces can't stand other views? Or is this a preparation for massacres that Baghdad will witness and they want to hide it from international public." (11) In 2004, the Iraqi government closed Al-Jazeera's bureau.

Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, 36, was killed by unknown gunmen while driving from his home to his workplace in Baghdad in December 2006. Al-Dulaimi was a news editor for the privately-run station Radio Dijla.

During the last four years CPJ has listed 89 (through November 2006) journalists who have been killed in Iraq. This year, 2006, was the deadliest year for journalists in Iraq. As of November 2006, 28 journalists have been killed. However the figures are considered to be higher as some of the cases of Iraqi journalists have not been reported. Of the 88, 51 of them are Iraqi journalists. (12) Iraqi journalists clearly face grave dangers when they report.

Thus Iraq has become the most dangerous place for journalists to work in the world. The death toll of journalists in Iraq has passed of the Algeria conflict, where 58 journalists killed from 1993 to 1996. Prior to Iraq, the Algerian conflict was the most deadly for journalists. (13)

The conditions are worsening for journalists in Iraq, especially for Iraqi journalists who have nowhere to go but hope that they will survive. On November 22, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Raad Jaafar Hamadi, a correspondent for al-Sabah newspaper in Baghdad, was killed in a drive-by shooting. (14)

Al-Jazeera's Bureau Closed in Baghdad

Al-Jazeera is the most popular channel in the Middle East and one of the most viewed channels in the world. The Iraqi government and the US administration were always upset by the way Al-Jazeera was covering the Iraq war and the ongoing violence in Iraq. The Iraqi government formed a commission to monitor the network's coverage of Iraq, and in August 2004, Ayad Allawi, the then interim prime minister, decided to close Al-Jazeera's office in Baghdad.

"This decision was taken to protect the people of Iraq and the interests of Iraq," Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told a news conference when he announced the decision. "(The commission) came up with a concise report on the issues of incitement and the problems Al-Jazeera has been causing." (15)

The channel rejected the accusations. "I don't think that Al-Jazeera ever incites violence." Jihad Ballout, the network's spokesman, told CNN. (Ibid 15)

The Al-Jazeera office is still closed in Baghdad. While the new Iraqi constitution (approved by voters in October 2005) grants freedom of expression, press, publishing and media in Article 36, Items 1and 2, (16) this hasn't helped Al-Jazeera, the leading news network in the Arab world, to work in Iraq.

The US and the Iraqi Media

There have been several cases where US forces shot or detained journalists. Some journalists have been imprisoned by the US forces. For example Abdel Amir Yunes Hussein, a cameraman working for CBS News, has been held at the Camp Bucca prison in Iraq since April 2005, according to Reporters Without Borders. (17)

In November 2005 a Los Angeles Times report came out stating that the US had planted positive articles about the war in Iraqi newspapers. This sparked serious discussions among the Iraqi media and tarnished the reputations of newspapers that had published those articles. Some newspapers reacted with anger when they knew they were targeted by the plan. Some of them said they didn't know they were trapped and some other newspapers apologized for their readers. Newspapers like al-Mutamar, Addustour, and al-Mada had published the stories. (18)

The program was funded by The US Department of Defense. Up to $10 million was awarded to a Washington-based contractor, Lincoln Group (17). The company's mission was to translate articles written by U.S. Military Information Operations troops and market them to Iraqi media organization without letting them know that the material came from the U.S. military (19).

The US made a huge mistake by using this tactic. First of all it undermined the claims about their efforts to democratize Iraq. Secondly, many independent media in Iraq couldn't survive the hardship financial situations they were in, so they had shut down their papers. There are still many independent news organizations in Iraq that are struggling to work. The US could support those media to foster free and independent -- and true -- stories of the Iraqis rather than fabricated stories.

Iraqi journalists have hardly had any access to the US military, and interviews with the US army are almost never seen in Iraqi papers. Most of the US military quotes and interviews that the Iraqi news organizations obtain either are from international news organizations such as AP, Reuters, AFP, CNN and BBC or are from US military statements or briefs.

The Status of the Iraqi Media in 2006

The situation has become very dangerous for journalists Iraq; foreign correspondents have very limited or no access to the Iraqi street and Iraqi journalists are jeopardizing their lives to cover the events.

Ismael Zayer, editor-in-chief of the independent daily newspaper al-Sabah al-Jadeed, fled Iraq in August 2006 after a source told him his name was on a militia's hit list. He returned several weeks later, when he was told his name was taken off. He had already survived an assassination attempt in May 2004. Zayer told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, "In most of the cases we can't say what we know. We're afraid that if we publish what we know we'll be threatened. Of course you can write a beautiful, brilliant piece, but it might be the last piece you write." (20)

In Iraq, getting information is almost impossible. There is no transparency: The country was ranked 160 out of 163 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (21). There is no room to report and reveal corruption which has engulfed the whole country.

The Iraqi government recently passed some laws that criminalizes articles or speeches that ridicule the government or its officials. These laws are exactly the similar to those during Saddam regime.

The Iraqi government shut down the channels Zawra and Salahiddin in November 2006 for showing demonstrations against the verdict convicting Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity. The channels were reopened after a few days form their closure. The Iraqi parliament asked the government to stop the al-Sarqiya channel and Azzaman. The request sparked national and regional protests and the Iraqi government hasn't responded tio the parliament request (22).

In September 2006, The New York Times reported that three Iraqi journalists were being tried for articles they had published in 2005. In the articles the journalists had accused some local officials in the southern Iraq of corruption(23).

An Institute for War and Peace Reporting journalist, who had fled to southern Iraq when the Shia militiamen of Muqtada al-Sadr had taken control of his neighborhood, told the Institute that it was impossible for journalists to operate in the country. "Militias kill and detain people because [they're either] Shia or Sunni. If I showed them my press ID, they would accuse me of being a collaborator and kill me on the spot," he told IWPR on condition of anonymity. (24)

The situation in the north is not very promising. In fact this year has been described as the worst year by the local journalists. This year Asos Hardi, the former editor-in-chief of Hawlati and Twana Osman, the current editor-in-chief, received commuted six-month sentences and put on probation. They were also fined for publishing "false" information. However, many independent journalists were suspicious of the verdict as the judiciary is not independent in the region.

Kamal Said Qadir, a Kurdish-Austrian writer, was sentenced to 30 years after he wrote some articles criticizing Massoud Barzani, the president of Kurdistan. Under pressure by international organizations and the Austrian government, he was released in January 2006.

In a course of two weeks in August 2006 the Kurdish security forces arrested 28 journalists while covering demonstrations over lack of basic service. (25) In fact, Kurdish press freedom faces a gloomy future if the regional Parliament approves the proposed press law that has been drafted by Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, a syndicate that is dominated by the two main parties KDP and PUK. The draft law that was drafted in early 2006 puts huge restrictions and limitations on journalism in the region.

The first article of the final draft of the law, which has been proposed to the Parliament, states, "The press is free and there is no censorship on press and freedom of publishing is entitled to every citizen within the framework of the law and preserving private freedom of individuals, customs and public order."(26) There is also an entire section (Article 10) for "Forbiddance in Newspapers" that places severe restrictions on journalists.

"News or photos that are related to a private life of somebody or a family (is prohibited), even though it might be true, if publishing it would result in damaging him or the family," one of the items says.

The main problem is that the law is very loose and only serves those who are in power. Under the clause mentioned above, the officials, particularly those who are against free media, can take any newspaper to court if the paper writes anything against them.

Kurdish journalists face constant threats for stories they publish. There is no investigative journalism at all and while transparency is propagated in the Kurdish region, it does not exist.

Conclusion: The Future of Iraqi Journalism and Journalists

The future of the Iraqi media does not look promising. The resurrection of the former Baath regime law by the Iraqi central government means journalists cannot reveal corruption or wrong doings. The militiamen, the government and from time to time the occupying forces have made working in journalism almost impossible in Iraq. The country is now on the brink of a civil war and hundreds of thousands of people have died and millions more displaced. Yet the media coverage in Iraq is mostly focused on the humanitarian situation and political disputes, so cases like corruptions are hardly reported. Even if any cases of corruption are reported either the authorities won't respond, or the journalist could be killed, as Ismael Zayer had mentioned.

The Kurdish media situation is quite the same; there is no transparency or access to information from the Kurdish government. Independent journalists face constant threats from the officials and security forces. The new proposed Kurdish press law limits press freedoms in the region and would make working for journalists difficult.

The future of the Iraqi media generally depends on the political situation in the country. As political and sectarian violence continues, journalists can't cover the events as they happen, the main problem is they could be killed randomly or targeted.

By Mariwan Hama-Saeed
www.kurdishaspect.com