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<P class=story><SPAN class=storyhead><A
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/03/wirq103.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/04/03/ixnewstop.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/03/wirq103.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/04/03/ixnewstop.html</A></SPAN></P>
<P class=story><SPAN class=storyhead>Iraq's new free media may not survive
handover of power </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=storyby>By Jack Fairweather in
Baghdad</SPAN><BR><I>(Filed: 03/04/2004) </I><BR></P>
<P class=story>Fears are growing that the flowering of the Iraqi media, which
was supposed to set an example for the whole of the Middle East, will be
short-lived and cannot last beyond the handover of power at the end of June.</P>
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<P class=story>Relations between the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and
some local press and television outlets are already strained and observers
believe things will get worse.</P>
<P class=story>In the past 10 months, the authorities have <A lang=en.uk
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/24/walja24.xml">banned
two leading Arab TV news channels</A> and closed down two newspapers.</P>
<P class=story>The administration has said it has to put a stop to dangerous and
irresponsible journalism among Iraq's hundreds of new media outlets.</P>
<P class=story>"In the current security situation, we simply can't have people
on television calling us liars, thieves and traitors and offering rewards in
heaven if we are shot," said Mahmud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi
Governing Council.</P>
<P class=story>But many Iraqi journalists fear the administration's
heavy-handedness has set such a poor example that the fledgling media will be
the first institution to crumble after America hands over power this summer.</P>
<P class=story>"We understand the need to balance freedom of speech with the
current security climate but the administration is making a mess of things,"
said Walid Wehad, bureau chief for al-Arabiya television which, with al-Jazeera,
dominates news coverage in the Middle East.</P>
<P class=story>He says Iraq's Governing Council, a US-appointed body of Iraqi
politicians, has proved hyper-sensitive to criticism. "Their first instinct is
to ban and censor when they hear something they don't like," said Mr Wehad, an
Iraqi who worked for the state television.</P>
<P class=story>In September both stations were banned from covering Iraqi
Governing Council events for two weeks after giving publicity to rebel groups
urging attacks against Americans which the administration called
"incendiary".</P>
<P class=story>Miriam al-Attiya, a former radio journalist, also had a run-in
with the council. She was banned for life from covering government events after
she accused a council member of lying at a press conference. She was later
sacked form her job with Radio Sawa, a US-funded Arabic station, only to
discover that the brother of the council spokesman had taken her job.</P>
<P class=story>"It makes me very sad. I worked for 15 years as a journalist
under Saddam but six months of the American occupation and I no longer have a
job," she said.</P>
<P class=story>The mood was soured by an incident two weeks ago when two
al-Arabiya reporters were shot and killed by US troops as they drove away from a
checkpoint. The US military said it was shooting at a car that was accelerating
towards the checkpoint and the reporters were hit accidentally.</P>
<P class=story>Many officials in the CPA admit being dismayed by the
administration's approach to journalists and the failure so far to establish an
impartial new service.</P>
<P class=story>They point to the Iraqi Media Network, the US-funded television
channel that is widely regarded as a propaganda vehicle.</P>
<P class=story>Hours are given to government announcements and there is limited
coverage of the daily violence in Iraq. "It's been a $150 million flop," said
one official. A Lebanese television company has been brought in to improve
programming and bring a greater independence to the channel.</P>
<P class=story>The flagship news programme continues to send its running order
to the administration before going on air.</P>
<P class=story>This is standard practice for Arab state broadcasters but the
irony is that the overthrow of the Saddam dictatorship was supposed to usher in
an era of liberty which would set an irresistible example for the rest of the
Arab world.</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>