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The mass media in Iraq includes print, radio, television, and online services. Iraq became the first Arab country to broadcast from a TV station, in 1954 [1] . As of 2020, more than 100 radio stations and 150 television stations were broadcasting to Iraq in Arabic, English, Kurdish, Turkmen, and Neo-Aramaic.
Media under Saddam Hussain's Ba'ath party was severely limited and strictly controlled by the state. There was one news network called Iraqi News Agency which functioned solely as a mouthpiece for the regime. Any media other than that under the purview of the government was barred. Satellite dishes were illegal. Although this may have been circumvented by some of Baghdad's elite, the fear of being turned in or found out made this an uncommon occurrence.
The Ministry of Information was charged with control of the media during Saddam's rule. At this time, there were only five state-owned daily newspapers, one government TV channel, and four radio stations. Legislation was in place to assist in the control of the media by the state, and digressions were not tolerated. Expression was widely restricted, and there were no laws to protect journalists or media professionals.
After the end of full state control in 2003, a period of considerable growth occurred in Iraq's broadcast media. Immediately, the ban on satellite dishes was no longer in place, and by mid-2003, according to a BBC report, there were 20 radio stations, 15-17 Iraqi-owned television stations, and 200 Iraqi-owned and operated newspapers. Significantly, many of these newspapers emerged in disproportionate numbers to the population of their locations. For example, in Najaf, with a population of 300,000, over 30 newspapers were being published and distributed.
Iraqi media expert and author of a number of reports on the subject, Ibrahim al-Marashi, outlines four phases of the US invasion in 2003 in which steps were taken that had significant effects on the subsequent path of Iraqi media since. The stages are: pre-invasion preparation, actual war and selection of targets, initial post-war period, and the increased insurgency and handover to the Interim Iraqi Government (IIG) and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. [2]
The pre-war planning failed to effectively outline a post-war strategy for a number of reasons, namely a lack of expertise, funding, authority, and involvement of civilian aid organizations. During the war, the importance of leaving structures in place for post-war reconstruction was ultimately unheeded. Many of domestic transmitters were destroyed. After the war, the process of de-Ba'athification involved abolishing the Ministry of Information and too much reliance on US personnel and expat Iraqis who had little connection to those in Iraq at the time and did not place sufficient emphasis on building local capacity. In addition, the widespread looting and destruction that took place immediately after the war did not exclude media infrastructure.
Under the direction of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III as the Administrator, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) began issuing radio and television licenses in June 2003 to meet the great demand for broadcasting licenses. The licenses were issued by the CPA Senior Adviser for Telecommunications. To plan for the expected great demand, this CPA office worked with Iraqi radio-frequency spectrum engineers and managers to develop a national FM-radio and TV channel allotment plan for all of the major Iraqi cities and towns. The national plan was developed using technical criteria and the Region 1 (Europe, Africa and the Middle East) allotment plan that was developed years before by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations treaty organization. The Iraqi allotment plan consisted of hundreds of FM radio and TV stations allotted to the cities and towns. The channels in the allotment plan were then open to anyone to apply for a license for a particular channel.
The CPA developed a few basic rules and regulations in June and July 2003 to provide a limited regulatory control of the broadcasters. For example, broadcasts inciting riots were prohibited. The overall CPA objective was to issue many licenses to provide for a plethora of diverse voices, information, music, and news to satisfy the desires and tastes of the Iraqi citizens. The CPA also recognized that broadcasting was a combination of business, advertising, journalism, engineering, and entertainment, and a robust and thriving broadcasting industry could provide a large number of excellent and highly desirable professional jobs that would reduce national unemployment. The CPA also recognized that commercial broadcasting could provide wealth-building opportunities to successful broadcasters.[ citation needed ]
The Iraqi Media Network (IMN0), a public broadcasting network similar to the Public Broadcasting System in the United States, was issued radio and TV licenses by the CPA.[ citation needed ]
The CPA continued its work as the national broadcasting licensing and regulatory authority until June 2004 when the Iraq Communications and Media Commission (CMC) was established as the national regulatory agency that would issue licenses and regulate broadcasting and telecommunications.[ citation needed ]
The Iraqi News Agency, which operated as a mouthpiece of the government under the regime of Saddam Hussein continued to operate post 2003, but it was challenged by the independent news agency Aswat al-Iraq, which is backed by the United Nations; major foreign news agencies with offices in Iraq are the Anadolu Ajansı of Turkey, the Associated Press of the United States, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur of Germany, the Informatsionnoye Telegrafnoye Agenstvo Rossii–Telegrafnoye Agenstvo Suverennykh Stran (ITAR-TASS) of the Russian Federation, Reuters of Britain, and Xinhua News Agency of the People's Republic of China. [3]
The United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars on strategic communication in Iraq, and is believed responsible for such anonymously written newspapers as Baghdad Now and a variety of posters, billboard messages and radio and television spots. However, Iraqis have largely dismissed such media as obvious propaganda and some note that they are as clumsily written as that used under President Hussein. [4]
Online media has become a significant source of news in Iraq as print newspaper consumption has decreased dramatically. The online news outlets with the most prominent online presence are Iraqi News, AK News, a Kurdish source published in English and Arabic as well, Al Sumaria, Baghdadia, Al Iraq News, Iraq Hurr (US-funded), and Dar adDustour. As a general rule, online sources publish mainly political news. Any news pertaining to the activities of government officials is prioritized; rarely does any other type of headline appear front-and-center. Economy and oil-related news comes in a clear second place, often announcing whenever contracts are signed and with which companies to develop which oil fields. Other prominent areas of coverage in Iraq's online news outlets are security events, the activities of the US that concern Iraq, parliamentary proceedings and the stalling legislative process, and to a lesser extent, media and education issues. The area that gets the least coverage while deserving more by far is that of Iraq's youth. Considering three factors, the recent revolutions in the region, ongoing protests in Iraq, and the large percentage of the Iraqi population that is under the age of 35, youth issues should be given a high level of attention in Iraq's press. However, they rarely make the news, with the exception of through the sports section which offers details on the Iraqi national soccer team.
Aside from traditional media, there exists a new form of journalism in Iraq – citizen journalism. Blogging has become a major source of information for people in Iraq and around the world on popular opinion. Since 2003, the Iraqi blogosphere grew to include many people who either previously had no background in journalism or means to make their voices heard. One prominent Iraqi blogger is a dentist who lives in London, for example, and runs his own personal blog as well as a forum for English-speaking Iraqis. [5] Iraq has had a long history of outward migration of its citizens for both political and economic reasons, beginning most heavily in the 1940s. So, engaging the Iraqi exile and refugee community in dialogues about developments on the ground in Iraq brings back in a large portion of the Iraqi citizenry that has previously been unable to join in the debates. Youth in particular are participating in this mechanism for communication, feeling that they finally have a way to project their opinions. Voices that had been silenced are now being heard and are providing a service in an environment where traditional media is falling short of delivering sufficient information about events and sentiments on the ground. During the 2005 referendum on the Iraqi Constitution, bloggers were instrumental in conveying the opinions and recommendations of Iraqis.
It is important to keep in mind that Iraqi bloggers are predominantly male and under the age of 35. However, while it is inaccurate to assume that bloggers evenly represent the Iraqi public, over half of the Iraqi population is under the age of 35.
The daily papers with the largest circulation, all published in Baghdad, are al Mada, al Sabah, and al Zaman (also published in London).
The first radio station in Iraq was Radio Baghdad (also known as Republic of Iraq Radio), started on 1 July 1936. [6] [7]
Since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, there has been a proliferation of radio broadcasters in Iraq. This is particularly evident in the north, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad. There are fewer stations in the south in places such as Basrah. Radio stations appear and disappear regularly, so any list such as below should not be considered definitive.
The stations in Iraq are as follows: [8]
The most popular television stations were the independent Al Sharqiya, Al Baghdadia TV and state-owned Al Iraqiya.
Arabic-language satellite broadcasts from neighboring countries were increasingly popular:
Telecommunications in Iraq include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet as well as the postal system.
Iraq was home to the first television station in the Middle East, which began during the 1950s. As part of a plan to help Iraq modernize, British telecommunications company Pye Limited built and commissioned a television broadcast station in the capital city of Baghdad. Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi state media collapsed. In June 2004, a Communications and Media Commission was set up to approve and grant license for all the country's media. By 2011, Iraq was the headquarters of 49 free-to-air satellite channels, one of the highest numbers in the region. Until 2003, satellite dishes were banned in Iraq, and there was a limited number of national terrestrial stations. After 2003, the sale of satellite dishes surged, and free-to-air channels entered the market. There are 17 terrestrial channels, of which one is funded by the US government through the U.S. Agency for Global Media (Alhurra-Iraq), and seven are owned by the state broadcaster Iraqi Media Network. In March 2011, Al Jazeera was granted rights to resume operations after being banned in 2004. Plans were established to set up a free-media zone based in Baghdad, the Baghdad Media City, by the end of 2014.
Al Iraqiya is a satellite and terrestrial public broadcaster and television network in Iraq that was set up after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It is an Arabic language network that serves upwards of 85% of Iraq's population, and is viewed by a significant percentage.
Iraqi Assyrians are an ethnic and linguistic minority group, indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia. They are defined as Assyrians residing in the country of Iraq, or members of the Assyrian diaspora who are of Iraqi-Assyrian heritage. They share a common history and ethnic identity, rooted in shared linguistic, cultural and religious traditions, with Assyrians in Iran, Turkey and Syria, as well as with the Assyrian diaspora elsewhere. A significant number have emigrated to the United States, notably to the Detroit and Chicago; a sizeable community is also found in Sydney, Australia.
Minorities in Iraq include various ethnic and religious groups.
MED TV was the first Kurdish satellite TV with studios in London, England and Denderleeuw, Belgium. MED TV broadcast programs mainly in six languages, Kurdish, English, Arabic, Assyrian and Turkish.
Al-Alam is an Arabic news channel broadcasting from Iran and owned by the state-owned media corporation Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
Kurdistan TV is the first satellite television station in Kurdistan that started broadcasting in 1999. It belongs to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and is based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region.
The mass media in Syria consists primarily of television, radio, Internet, film and print. The national language of Syria is Arabic but some publications and broadcasts are also available in English and French. While television is the most popular medium in Syria, the Internet has become a widely utilized vehicle to disseminate content. Transcending all available media, the government seeks to control what Syrians see by restricting coverage from outside sources. Publications and broadcasts are monitored by members of the government. All mass media outlets are under the supervision of the Ministry of Information. Third article of the 2013 Information Ministry guidelines stipulate that purpose of all media outlets is "to enlighten public opinion" in line with the ideological doctrines "of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and the policy of the state".
Al-Baghdadia TV is an independent Iraqi-owned Arabic-language satellite channel based in Cairo, Egypt. It is considered a Nationalistic channel of funding directly and only from the CEO. During the Iraqi insurgency, several prominent journalists with the station were murdered. More recently, Global TV Stations depend on Al Baghdadia for news coming from Iraq. It has a live morning show called 'Al Baghdadia Wa El Nas' which is a free show that allows Iraqis to give their opinion and to send a message to the government, this supports Iraqi democracy. The CEO of Al Baghdadia believes that democracy should be created by true Iraqis, not by force. The TV station is dubbed the name 'Umm al-Fuqarā' . In 2012, Al-Baghdadia Media Group launches its second channel, B2, broadcasting mainly series, drama, movies and entertainment. since then Al Baghdadia 2 is first entertainment channel in Iraq, B2 freq on Nilesat.
Kurdsat Broadcasting Corporation is a satellite television station in Kurdistan Region, Iraq, broadcasting since 8 January 2000. It belongs to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and is based in Sulaymaniyah.
Rudaw Media Network, is a major media broadcaster in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
Sama Ameen Dizayee is an Iraqi Kurdish radio and television personality.
The General Organization of Radio and TV, also known in French as Organisation de la Radio et la Télévision Arabe Syrienne, is the state and public broadcaster in Syria and reports to the Ministry of Information. Earlier names were Radio and Television and Syrian Radio & Television (SRT).
Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) claims to be the first ever independent media network in the Kurdistan Region. The corporation claims to be independent, It was formed in 2010 by freelance journalists who launched the first ever independent media network, funded by Nalia company.
Kurdistan 24 (K24) is a Kurdish broadcast news station based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with foreign bureaus in Washington, DC. The service was launched on 31 October 2015. Noreldin Waisy is the founder and former general manager of Kurdistan 24.
Noreldin Waisy,, is a Kurdish political analyst and journalist. He helped found the Kurdish media broadcasting outlets Rudaw and Kurdistan 24. He served as the general manager of Kurdistan 24, based in the Kurdistan's capital Erbil, from 2015 to 2019. Waisy currently serves as the press secretary to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
Kirkuk Satellite Channel is a satellite television station in Iraq, broadcasting since 21 March 2004. It belongs to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and is based in Kirkuk.
Baghdad Television (BTV) or known as Iraqi TV was as first television in Iraq, which was operation from 2 May 1956 until 13 April 2003 after fall of Baghdad.
Babylon Media is a multi-media company situated in Ankawa, Erbil, located in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region.
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