opinion

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by a new directive from Iraqi authorities that warns news organizations to reflect the government's positions in their reporting or face unspecified action.

The warning came in a statement released November 11 but dated November 9 by the government regulatory Media High Commission. The commission cited the 60-day state of emergency, declared when US-led forces began their offensive in Fallujah this week, The Associated Press and Reuters reported. The state of emergency covers all of Iraq except the Kurdish north, giving the prime minister additional powers to quash the insurgency before elections in January.

Directing the news media to differentiate between "innocent citizens of Fallujah" and insurgents, the commission instructed journalists not to attach "patriotic descriptions to groups of killers and criminals," according to the statement, obtained by CPJ. The statement also asked the media to "set aside space in your news coverage to make the position of the Iraqi government, which expresses the aspirations of most Iraqis, clear."

"You must be precise and objective in handling news and information," the statement said. "We hope you comply ... otherwise we regret we will be forced to take all the legal measures to guarantee higher national interests," it added.

"We are very troubled by this directive, which is an attempt to control news coverage through government coercion," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "It damages the government's credibility in establishing a free and democratic society."

In August, Iraqi authorities closed the Baghdad office of the satellite television channel Al-Jazeera and barred the Qatar-based station from newsgathering in Iraq after deeming its coverage to be against the Iraqi people and government. The government extended the ban indefinitely a month later.












Also in this section:
Keller, The loss of a partner
Lerner, Why Arafat failed
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Repugnant anti-Palestinian slurs
Jackson, Arafat and his successor
Committee to Protect Journalists, Totalitarian Iraqi press decree
Golinger, NED vs Venezuelan democracy
Leight, Brutal Haitian regime shows its true colors
Silié, The Rio Group and hemispheric integration
Leis, Youth and employment in Panama
Bernal, En route to darkness
Fishlow, Panamanian scapegoats for US company's malpractice

Back to top