Designs for Independent Media in Iraq
Home | Agenda | Sponsors | Participants | Framework| Internews in the Middle East | Study of Middle East Media Law

Press Release:

Experts Plan for Democratic Media in Iraq at Conference Organized by Internews
UN, World Bank, US, Greece, Germany and Russia Join Effort
(June 5, 2003, Athens, Greece) With high hopes for the future of Iraq and a sense of urgency about the political and social volatility there, an international group of media experts met in Athens this week to hammer out a framework for democratic media in post-Saddam Iraq.

The detailed plan that emerged was the culmination of three days of spirited debate by some 75 Iraqi, Arab, and Western media lawyers, media policy experts and journalists who met from June 1-3.

The media framework calls for laws guaranteeing media freedom, including the abolishment of any kind of censorship. The framework also recommends setting up an independent public broadcasting authority in Iraq, and calls for bodies to assign broadcast frequencies. It includes ideas for developing journalistic ethics and Internet policy.

Robert Reilly, the US administration official in charge of media in Iraq, pledged to take the framework back to Baghdad to share it widely with other key decision-makers. He said, "This conference addressed the critical questions being asked in Baghdad that needed to be answered immediately if media are to be open and responsible in the new Iraq."

Organized by Internews Network and Internews Europe, non-profit organizations supporting independent media worldwide, the conference was the first sign of multilateral cooperation since the end of the war. Major sponsors were the Greek Foreign Ministry and the US Agency for International Development.

Other conference sponsors included the European Commission's Department of Communication, the German Foreign Office, the Russian Ministry of the Press, UNESCO and the World Bank Institute.

In addition, NGO sponsors included the Arab Women's Media Center, Association AÏNA, BBC World Service Trust, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Center for Strategic & International Studies, the Indonesia Media Law and Policy Centre, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research, and the Western Policy Center.

Internews fosters independent media in emerging democracies, produces innovative television and radio programming, and uses the media to mediate conflict within and between countries. Internews Network is a non-profit organization based in California (www.internews.org). It is a member of Internews International, whose members work in 40 countries.

CONTACT:

David Hoffman, Internews, +1 707 826-2030 x126