[Peace-discuss] US censorship in Iraq

[Ricky Baldwin]

[Aren't we glad the US decided the Iraqis needed some
freedoms, like the First Amendment...]

New Iraqi TV Complains of US Censorship

By Saul Hudson, May 13, 2003

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S.-sponsored Iraqi
television station began broadcasts Tuesday after
complaining of American censorship, including efforts
to stop it airing passages from the Koran, the Muslim
holy book. 

At the start of what is being trumpeted as a new
broadcasting era in a nation fed on a diet of state
propaganda, Baghdad residents with electricity saw the
Iraqi flag appear on their screens as a pan-Arab
nationalist anthem played. 

Deprived of any locally produced television since U.S.
troops ousted Saddam Hussein, Iraqis watched canned
interviews and decades-old music shows. 

But the Iraqi Media Network postponed plans to air a
half-hour live news program because of disputes over
editorial control. 

"As journalists we will not submit to censorship,"
said Dan North, a Canadian documentary maker advising
Iraqis at the station, which plans two hours of
programming a night for viewers in Baghdad. 

"This whole idea was about starting the genesis of an
open media so we will not accept an outside source
scrutinizing what we produce." 

The charges of censorship could reaffirm for many
Iraqis the perception that Washington is not allowing
them a free hand in building democratic institutions. 

"All my neighbors say this TV is controlled by the
Americans to get out their point of view," said Abbas
Mohammed, a cakemaker, who watched the broadcast in
his living room with his family. "But I don't care
there was no news. In Iraq the news is always bad." 

NOT PROPAGANDA 

U.S. officials made no comment on the censorship
allegations. They had earlier said the station would
be a welcome change from the Saddam era. 

"This is not American propaganda. This is the first
time in 25 years Iraqis are getting TV that is not
propaganda," said Robert Teasdale, a U.S. adviser to
the network. 

But North said the U.S.-led administration's Office of
Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) had
requested the station's news programs be reviewed by
the wife of Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader and a
major figure in the postwar politics of Iraq. 

"Could you imagine a political leader being able to
check the content of any Western media?" North said. 

The news program would be postponed for a week because
of the wrangling, said North, himself hired by the
ORHA. 

The network did air verses from the Koran, a tradition
in Middle Eastern countries, because the Iraqi workers
threatened to walk out if they were dropped at the
ORHA's behest. 

An eleventh-hour programming change on Tuesday cut an
address by Jay Garner, the No.2 in the U.S.-led
civilian administration. The station broadcast canned
packages, including an interview with an electricity
official and sound bites from Iraqis outside a
hospital complaining of a lack of medicine. 

At the ORHA's "suggestion," the station cut one
section in which a patient made an unsubstantiated
accusation that U.S. soldiers were stealing gasoline,
North said. 



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