[Media-watch] US coalition forms body to regulate media

[Julie-ann Davies]

U.S.-led coalition forms body to regulate media 
By Associated Press, 3/27/2004 08:45

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, with less than 100 days left running the country, set up a $6 million commission to regulate the news media, a senior coalition officials said on Saturday. 

The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission, whose nine members will be appointed by the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority in consultation with the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, will organize telecommunications and broadcast operators and devise codes of conduct, the coalition official said during a briefing at which the official demanded anonymity. 

''The aim is to keep politicians at arms length,'' the official said. 

The commission also will be responsible for issuing broadcast licenses and setting rates and conditions for the operators. 

''We want to establish a professional standard. We don't want repressive press laws,'' the official said. 

After the U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein last year, Iraqis started dozens of newspapers and radio and television stations. The news media were controlled by the government under Saddam. 
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