Iraq: 2012 “worst year” for press freedom since fall of Saddam

The Baghdad based media freedom watchdog Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) describes a media community under the military’s guardianship and government control

Research and interviews were conducted by Ziad al-Ajili. JFO representative in Kurdistan Metro Center provided additional research.

The security and legal environment for press work in Iraq remains fragile and does not meet minimum standards of occupational safety in a country that is still suffering the effects of violence and multiple divisions within its society, according to the media freedom watchdog Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO), one of IMS’ partners in Iraq.

Impunity prevails

In April 2013, a mob of men carried out targeted attacks on four Iraqi newspapers, leading to the brutal assault on staff members several of whom were beaten, stabbed or thrown off a roof. The newspaper offices were also vandalised by the mob, with their contents being either smashed or set on fire. Although it has been more than a month since these attacks, there have been no arrests, despite the Interior Ministry confirming it had security camera footage in its possession, that could help identify the attackers.

Over the last decade, Iraq has been at the top of the yearly “Impunity Index”, published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Those working in the media have been the target of successive attacks ever since the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. 261 Iraqi and foreign journalists were killed, including 147 journalists who were killed as a direct result of their work, as well as 52 technicians and media assistants. 64 journalists and media assistants were kidnapped, most of them killed, and 14 of them are still missing, according to the JFO’s statistics. All these cases are unsolved; the criminals remain at large. The past year has seen the murder of two journalists in separate attacks.

On 30 July 2012, the presenter on the “Sama Al-Mosul” channel, Ghazoan Anas, was killed when an unknown armed group attacked his house in Mosul. On November 18, 2012, Iraqi security forces found the body of journalist Sameer Al-sheikh Ali, who worked as an editor of the “Al-Jamaheer Al-Baghdadis” newspaper in Baghdad, shot dead.

Closures and restrictions on media foundations

Iraqi authorities withdrew the broadcast permission of the English language BBC World Service in June 2012 last year. The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) claimed there were not enough frequencies available, but allowed the broadcast of BBC’s Arabic language programming to continue.

On 17 December 2012 the Baghdadia satellite channel and the Al-Mahabba radio station were closed. Security forces surrounded the Baghdadia building in Baghdad and asked the staff to leave the building. Equipment was taken, but no assaults were reported. Another military force raided Al-Mahabba radio station’s office in the Wuzeriya neighborhood, and ordered them to shut off transmission. The CMC claimed that the radio station had not paid its registration fee.

Iraqi police shuts down media agencies

In June, an official government document was obtained by JFO, revealing that security forces in Iraq had received orders to shut down the offices of 44 media agencies. Included were prominent local TV channels and radio stations such as Sharqiya and Baghdadia satellite television stations and foreign-owned media such as BBC, Radio Sawa and Voice of America.

The document, obtained by the JFO was issued by the CMC, signed by acting director Safa al-Din Rabiah, and addressed to the Interior Ministry. It recommended banning 44 Iraqi and foreign media agencies from working in various areas in Iraq, including Kurdistan.

The document states it had already been approved by the Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi, who is described in the letter as having instructed the ministry’s Department of Relations and Media “to stop media cooperation with these agencies and to notify the police to ban these channels, along with the necessity of informing the channels to contact the CMC.”

In past decisions, the CMC has caused controversy for its heavy-handed regulations and tactics, seen by critics as a campaign to undermine Freedom of Expression in Iraq by ordering arrests, fines and the closure of media organisations.

The document was circulated among police forces in Baghdad on 8 May 2012, five days after World Press Freedom Day. In it, the CMC informs the Interior Ministry that it has suspended operating licenses, or has banned cameramen and other media workers from working.

“Vague” restrictions

The CMC has begun implementing a list of regulations, issued before the last election under the pretense of silencing media agencies that encourage sectarian violence. International media and human rights organisations have said that such regulations are undue restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press.

“The list of regulations clearly shows how restrictions are preemptive, vague and easily misused,” and demanded “immediate talks between the Iraqi media and the CMC, to review the murky relationship between the CMC and the private media sector,” says Baghdad journalist Sarmad al-Taee.

The list of regulations states that media agencies must refrain from broadcasting “any content that encourages sectarianism or violence” without providing clear guidelines or definitions. The list also states that all media agencies must be licensed by the CMC before beginning work in Iraq, but lacks sufficient information regarding the standards that the government uses in order to hand out the licenses.

IMS has been actively supporting the Iraqi media since 2005. An important dimension of the IMS Iraq programme is conflict resolution, uniting political adversaries in the media sector. Other focus areas include providing media outlets with business models to strengthen their financial sustainability, promoting investigative reporting to strengthen media’s role as a watchdog in society, boosting the safety of journalists and providing them with legal support, and strengthening the journalistic capacity of both traditional and social media.