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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 12, May 22-June 04, 2009

The Illusion of Press Freedom

Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Al-Maliki, recently said that Iraq was the best country in the Middle East regarding freedom of the press, failing to acknowledge the deaths of 246 media workers since the 2003 invasion, reports the American Free Press.

Maliki told a conference of the International Federation of Journalists, “Iraq is in practice the best country in the region when it comes to freedom of the press,” and continued to assure that “there are no journalists in our jails because of press freedom… and there are no restrictions on the media apart from those aimed at preventing religious hate.”

However, human rights and media groups claim that Iraq is, in fact, the most dangerous country for journalists given that many reporters have been targeted by Shiite militias and Al-Qaeda insurgents. Reporters without Borders detailed an increasing number of restrictions placed on journalists in Iraq, and noted that a large number of journalists have been exiled due to violence in the area.

According to Asharq-Alawsat, Iraqi intelligence is suing the Guardian newspaper for defamation after it described the Maliki Administration as “increasingly autocratic,” and quoted three unnamed Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) members as commenting that elements of his rule “resembled a dictatorship.”

The INIS is demanding $1 million in damages, but the Guardian refuses to comply. The Iraqi government also demanded that the newspaper be shut down but later moved away from this stipulation.

Ali Al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, stated that it respected the Guardian and the right of newspapers to discuss the Prime Minister’s performance, but that the inclusion of “personal” accusations did not observe professional standards.

In related news, the Obama administration condemned the lack of press freedom in the Middle East, namely the imprisonment of Roxana Sabieri, the recently freed US- Iranian journalist. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Iran’s treatment of Sabieri as "non-transparent, unpredictable and arbitrary,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

These complaints from the US contradict its own behavior regarding some in the press as Ibrahim Jassam, cameraman and photographer for Reuters, was taken by American troops and has been in US custody ever since. No formal accusations have been made against him and the Iraqi court ordered that he be released due to lack of evidence, but the US continues to detain him.

The Committee to Protect Journalists stated that the US used arbitrary powers to arrest journalists in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Executive director Joel Simon, claims that none of the journalists being held have been convicted of any charge, thereby undermining the reputation of the US regarding the freedom of the press.

Simon continues by saying that he does not endorse a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for journalists, but argues that, “If you accuse someone of something there needs to be a fair legal process. That's what we said in the Roxana Saberi case, and that's what we say in the Ibrahim Jassam case."

The Iraqi government will make the final decision on whether Jassam will be released or transferred, but by that time the US will have already detained him without cause for over a year.

In addition to hurting a country’s reputation, censorship can also do financial harm. Egyptian state-funded media suffers economically in response to the restrictions placed on reporters. Nermin Nazim, show host at Nile TV, claims that state TV is different from independent channels in that “[one would] try to be objective as much as possible but you know very well that you stop at a certain level,” according to 3almastaba.

Funding for the state-run television station has been drastically slashed as advertisers are becoming more interested in independent channels. Adel Iskander, a media scholar, posits that the audience knows “what the range of topics at their disposal is, and accept no less than the best journalism that a journalist can offer.”

Iskander continues, claiming that state broadcasters “never entered the discussion surrounding corruption, fraud state brutalization and perhaps major gender issues in society.”

With the introduction of economic factors, censorship of media outlets has the potential to be detrimental to state-run media outlets, which cannot compete with independent stations that provide more complete reporting.

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