Iraq Media Developments

NYT: In War's Chaos, Iraq Finds Inspiration for Reality TV

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 04:50:15 +0000

"Reality TV could turn out to be the most durable Western import in Iraq." More

New media NGO aims to improve Iraqi journalism

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 06:54:10 +0000

Aug 22, 2005

A new, independent nonprofit that plans to help improve Iraqi news media recently formed in southern Iraq. Six Iraqi journalists have formed the Afaq Media Forum (AMF), according to an August 16 announcement posted on the Middle East NGOs Gateway.

The Basra-based group says it has a variety of goals, including: building a stronger, independent press; increasing journalists’ participation in public policy; developing a sustainable network of informed journalists; promoting international action to defend press freedom; helping younger journalists improve their skills; increasing women’s participation in the media; and speaking on behalf of fellow Iraqi journalists.

The AMF hopes to achieve its ambitious list of goals through training programs, affordable training manuals, and partnerships with various news organizations, among other means.

The six founding journalists are forum’s trustees, and they plan to meet once a year to set AMF policy. For more information, contact AMF secretary Adil Hameed, telephone 426275 or 624617, mobile 07801125030.

Middle East NGOs Gateway

Spiegel: US-sponsored television in the Middle East is "Cheaper than an Invasion"

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 23:05:07 +0000

Here's another in a long line of features on Alhurra, this one from Spiegel.

Australia's ABC on Election Radio

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 22:52:45 +0000

ABC (Australia) broadcast this report back in January on Election Radio, a German-funded radio project in the run-up to the Iraq election. This is the first Iraqi instance I've seen of such a technique:

Having sent their stories over the internet to Germany, producers in Berlin then put them together to make up the half hour Election Radio program. This is then sent back to Iraq, also as an MP3 file over the internet, to local partner stations from where it is finally broadcast.

BBC: Syrian media slow to open up

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 16:57:37 +0000

The media sector in Syria is now strictly controlled, with most publications and media outlets owned by the state. In the face of growing international political pressure on Syria to open up to the rest of the world, there are cautious steps in that direction.

International Conference on the Iraqi Media to be Held in Baghdad

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 11:16:38 +0000

Organized by the Iraqi National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC),The two-day meeting, scheduled for June 14 and 15, will cover various aspects of the Iraqi media, including journalists’ safety, press freedom, commercial development and training.

“The Media in Iraq – A New Future,” see www.ncmc-iraq.org

BBC Media Audit...from 2003

Wed, 25 May 2005 23:26:33 +0000

For what it's worth, we've dug up an old study from the BBC World Service Trust: an eight city report on the "Current State of Broadcast Media in Iraq." It's from June, 2003.

Gordon Robison on media training in the Middle East

Tue, 24 May 2005 22:26:40 +0000

Gordon Robison at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy asked us to post his most recent paper, Tasting Western Journalism: Media Training in the Middle East. It addresses some of the problems NGOs are facing in the classrooms of their Middle East journalism training programs.

Naguib's New Toy

Tue, 24 May 2005 10:10:59 +0000

Here is the link to the article in Egypt Today that Nahrain TV through the Egyptian holding company Hawwa was launched September 9 2004.

USA Today on entertainment programming

Fri, 20 May 2005 19:51:43 +0000

Iraqis are hungry for entertainment. "People now are looking for someone who can help them forget negative reality and spend a few hours of entertainment."

Tacoma's News Tribune on Al Iraqiya's Mosul studio

Sun, 15 May 2005 21:06:24 +0000

Tacoma, Washington's News Tribune profiles the producers at Al Iraqiya's Mosul studio and the Fort Lewis soldiers who guard them.

NYT on Iraq's most popular television drama

Sat, 14 May 2005 19:56:12 +0000

"Love and War" is a black comedy that could only have been made in Iraq. It mixes slapstick and even a few Bollywood-style musical numbers with a brutally frank portrayal of the violence here. Several of its main characters die in bombings, others are kidnapped and tanks and helicopters are a constant backdrop. More

LA Times on Iraq's "entertainment renaissance"

Mon, 09 May 2005 22:00:11 +0000

After decades of government censorship and a two-year U.S. occupation, actors, filmmakers and television producers are embracing new artistic freedoms to tell stories about Iraqis -- before and after Saddam Hussein's overthrow -- for an increasingly housebound audience.

Three Responses to Dorrance Smith

Fri, 06 May 2005 15:21:08 +0000

May 6's Wall Street Journal included three letters to the editor in response to Dorrance Smith's implication of Aljazeera. Here they are:

An Update from Yemen

Fri, 06 May 2005 02:55:01 +0000

Olivia Allison of Rice University is travelling throughout the Middle East and Maghreb. She recently sent us this article on recent developments in the Yemeni media environment. You may contact Olivia through me.

Yemeni media situation
By Olivia Allison

Despite the March 23 presidential pardon of newspaper editor Abdul-Karim Al-Khaiwani, Yemeni journalists say the amnesty is a mixed blessing, as it did not remove KhaiwaAn ni’s charges. Furthermore, journalists said they are still under attack, as the Ministry of Information is reportedly drafting a new media law.