Iraqi Media - No Independence Allowed

BAGHDAD — Journalists are warning that the increasingly partisan nature of the Iraqi press is suppressing fair and impartial media coverage of politics. They say that as politicians come to understand the power of the media, they have sought to control it, thwarting balanced, professional journalism.
“There is no independent media outlet in Iraq. I cannot name any satellite channel or a newspaper and say, ’This one is independent.’ They all either belong to a political or religious party,” said Hadi Jalo Marei, chairman of the Journalistic Freedom Observatory, a Baghdad-based media rights organization.With political disputes often played out in competing partisan media outlets, local reporters and editors say their respective organizations impose strict rules about coverage that are often counter to internationally recognized standards of impartiality.As most domestic news agencies are linked to or financed by political parties, observers say that a culture exists in which media aligned with a certain group provide positive coverage of their leaders while criticizing opponents. Some senior journalists and media experts feel the Iraqi press will never meet professional industry standards unless a truly independent media emerges. Journalists say the problem was particularly acute during this year’s election campaign and the months of negotiations that followed.

“Each news organization, except some (international) ones, supports a particular party or politician,” said Ali Ramadan, a TV correspondent from the al-Rasheed satellite channel.
“The performance of the local media in Iraq (during and after the March 7 elections) shows that the press is no more than a tool used by Iraqi political parties to get the posts they want,” he said.
Some journalists say the current job market and economic conditions dictate the kind of coverage they are able to provide.

“When I get my salary from any man, I will not be able to say he is wrong,” said Israa Ali, a local radio reporter in Baghdad.

An Iraqi reporter who refused to provide his name or the name of his organization explained the details of how policy is set at his office.
“Our editor used to force us to do stories against specific political parties,” he said.

New York Times reporter Khalid Ali says the politicization of the media stems from politicians’ increasing understanding of the influence it can wield.
“(Politicians) care about media now, because they have seen the media’s power. They have learned from the previous elections that media is their only way to reach the community, and is their only key to winning people’s hearts,” Ali said.

And just as in other parts of the world, politicians here have learned to cooperate only with media outlets they know will support them.

“It’s as simple as some politicians being nice with their media outlets and rude with others,” said Nesreen Ali, a television correspondent who works for the al-Furat, a satellite channel financed by the Shia party the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. “It can be hard to get the information you need. Members of a particular party, which I would not like to name, refused to talk to me or to my outlet at a time they had a disagreement with the party supporting my organization.”

Hiba al-Sudani, a correspondent for the state-run Republic of Iraq radio, still holds out hope.

“A journalist is stronger than a politician,” al-Sudani said. “If we work in a professional way, we will force officials to obey our rules, and we will no longer have to play by theirs.”

Abeer Mohammed is a reporter in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Readers may write to the author at the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 48 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, U.K.; Web site: www.iwpr.net