Iraq’s new media law, the product of several years of debate, is supposed to protect journalists, but it has been the subject of much controversy. Hazim al-Sharaa, an IWPR editor in Iraq, looks at why some fear the legislation will restrict rather than enhance freedom of speech.

Can you describe the new media law?

This legislation is designed to regulate journalistic activities in Iraq. President Jalal Talabani says the law stems from a wish to respect “freedom of the press and expression, as well as guaranteeing the rights of Iraqi journalists… and their important role in making democracy a reality in the new Iraq”.

There were high hopes that this law would protect Iraqi journalists from intimidation and harassment by officials, and lead to greater freedom of expression. However, many on the Iraqi media scene worry that the law will actually serve to restrict freedom of speech.

When it was in draft form, the bill was criticised for applying only to members of the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate, IJS, an independent trade union that receives federal government funding. Anyone not a member of the IJS would have been excluded. However, when the law was finally passed – it has been in place since August 2011 – this was among several points amended from the earlier version, so that a journalist is now defined as “any individual practicing a full-time journalism job”.

However, concerns remain that this still excludes citizen journalists and bloggers, who have played an important role in building the modern Iraqi media.

The law also states that journalists cannot be arrested or interrogated without a warrant and without their place of employment being alerted about the alleged violation, although there is no provision for legal aid.

But benefits such as pension rights and eligibility for compensation for injuries received in the line of work still only apply to members of the IJS.

The United Kingdom’s Minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt (pictured), has described the assassination of an Iraqi journalist as deeply concerning, saying it threatened to undermine hard won freedoms.

Speaking after a meeting with the Iraqi Human Rights Committee on Tuesday, he said:

“I was shocked and saddened to hear of the assassination of prominent journalist Hadi al-Mahdi at his home in Baghdad on 8 September. A transparent and comprehensive investigation to identify and bring his killers to justice is urgently needed.

“This is the latest in a deeply concerning series of attacks on journalists across Iraq which threatens to undermine hard won freedoms. The new law on legal protection for journalists passed by Iraq’s Parliament in August, and the announcement of a Special Inquiry into Mr Mahdi’s death by the Iraqi Interior Ministry, are welcome and we continue to encourage the Iraqi Government to address the issue of journalists’ physical protection.

“I raised this with the Iraqi Human Rights Committee when I met them this morning and was pleased to hear of their commitment to tackle the issue”.

The head of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) in Iraq has condemned the violence that federal security forces inflicted upon a number of journalists covering the public demonstrations across the country on Friday, according to a report from AKnews.

Hadi Jallo Merei told the news agency that a large number of journalists were physically attacked by the Iraqi security forces while reporting the nationwide protests.

“Many journalists were injured in the head and their cameras were broken,” he said; “…even the correspondents of some satellite channels that were covering the event objectively were subjected to beatings, abuse and detention”.

Merei said that even if the demonstrations were considered by the federal forces as a violation or offense, the journalists were not a party to any violation as they were simply reporting the events and not participating in the protests.

”The attacks on journalists are totally unacceptable,” he said.

Among the reports of journalists being subjected to beatings by the security forces whilst covering the protests are the correspondent from the international news agency Reuters, Mushtaq Mohammed and the Masar TV anchor Karrar al-Tamimi.

“We received dozens of complaints about attacks that happened against journalists in different parts of Iraq,” Merei continued.

When asked about the charges being leveled at some satellite TV journalists that they were seeking to present a distorted anti-government view of Friday’s events, Merei said that he had received information “that some journalists received money from certain parties to incite violence” and condemned such behavior, deeming it inappropriate and unfit for the profession.

“The journalists who were inciting violence or engaged in it are not cut out for journalism and we don’t care about them,” he said.

Human Rights Watch has reportedly called on the Iraqi authorities to immediately investigate a raid by security forces on the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, and has demanded that the government ensure the speedy and safe return of all seized equipment and documents.

A guard at the JFO’s offices in Baghdad’s central commercial district Karrada said “at least 30 people, some wearing military uniforms and others dressed in black, came in security force vehicles at around 2:00 am … They broke into the office after breaking down the doors”.

The security forces conducted a destructive search of the office that lasted more than an hour and seized the organization’s computers, external hard drives, cameras, cell phones, CDs, documents, and several flak jackets and helmets marked “Press,” the witness said.

(Sources: AKnews, Trust.org, AFP)

An independent Spanish journalist said on Monday that there is greater press freedom in the Afghan capital Kabul than in the Iraqi capital, after experiencing first-hand the ongoing restrictions imposed on journalists and their movements in Baghdad.

AKnews reports that on his fifth visit to Iraq, Carlos Zorotoza complained that his camera was confiscated by soldiers in the Iraqi capital and he was obliged to remain “behind fortified walls”, preventing him from effectively conducting his work.

Zorozota, a free-lance journalist from Spain’s Basque region, had his camera confiscated while he was walking in Tahrir Square at the center of Baghdad to take images of public life. The Spanish journalist said that it is extremely difficult to take “even the simplest photograph” of life in Iraq.

“In Kabul, the Afghan capital, there are no red lines as in Baghdad on the usage of the camera,” he said.

Zorozota went on to speak about the particular dangers of reporting on corruption and the death threats that often ensue. This, he said was contradictory to the Iraqi constitution which guarantees the rights of a free media.

“…as a foreign journalist, I can see the caution on the faces of Iraqi reporters going about their work,” he said, “they are surrounded by great danger”.

The media rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB), also known as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), stated in its report last September that since 2003, Iraq has been home to the biggest massacre of journalists since the Second World War.

More Iraqi journalists and their crew members have been killed since 2003, the report states, than the total number of media workers killed in the 20-year Vietnam war or the civil war in Algeria.

In total, 230 journalists have been murdered in Iraq since 2003.

(Source: AKnews)

From Reporters Sans Frontieres:

The press freedom situation is better in Iraqi Kurdistan than it is in neighboring regions, and with 850 media outlets officially registered and 5,000 journalists, has considerably improved over the last decade.

Yet the number of attacks against journalists has also grown steadily over the last two years. Police and security forces tied to the two leading political parties: Massoud Barzini’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), are chiefly responsible for the increase.

Two journalists have already been murdered because of their work since 2008 and the most recent killing of Sardhast Osman in May 2010 has exacerbated the climate of fear within the profession.

There also remains a profound lack of understanding between authorities and media professionals, as neither camp seems to accept the role of, or necessity for, the other.

In its new report report “Between Freedom and Abuses: The Media Paradox in Iraqi Kurdistan”, Reporters Without Borders reviews the political and historical circumstances surrounding the growth of media outlets in the region in order to gain a clearer inderstanding of the current trends. The report contains recommendations for action on the part of authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan as well as journalists.

Click here to download this report.

(Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres)

Educational centers teaching journalism and media studies in Iraq have increased dramatically since 2003, which observers find promising in the country’s opening.

After the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, under which independent journalism was strictly censored, many independent media centers opened in Iraq, the majority of which are based in Kurdistan Region due to the security situation of other parts of the country.

The centers oversee media courses which have been attracting a large number of journalists in recent years.

Some of the most prominent media centers include:

• the Dutch “Press Now”;
• the Independent Media Center in Kurdistan (IMCK);
• the Independent Media Center in Baghdad (IMCB); and
• the Institute for War and Peace (IWP),

in addition to other local organizations linked to international bodies.

The representative of the IMCB, Kholud Ramzi, said, “These centers organize courses to teach the basics of the press and media and admit graduates of Iraqi universities from various parts of the country.” Last year, only graduates from a limited number of Iraqi provinces were admitted to the center.

The majority of the organizations give four to six sessions per year, according to official statistics of the Union of News Organizations in Iraq, involving dozens of Iraqi journalists.

Student Manaf Taleb, 25, told AKnews that he had participated in lengthy sessions of teaching journalism and media that are held in Kurdistan. At the completion of the courses Taleb said he realized what the press was and what its importance and accuracy meant.

“I got certificates that qualified me to work in the field of journalism and the media.” Taleb said with joy.

Another trainee, Ayoub Hasan, 25, said he learned a lot from the journalism training and that he loves his career as a journalist.

“I am a graduate of the Faculty of Science – Department of Chemistry – but I entered the field of journalism, and participated in the course for eight months at the Institute of Journalism of the Independent Media Center in Kurdistan,” said Hasan.

“I felt it served me a lot in my professional career, I am ready to participate in other sessions that develop my abilities in journalism and media.” said Hasan.

(Source: AKnews)