Iraq has been through many changes for the past decade, from the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the U.S occupation of the country and now the current threat of ISIS. Before Saddam Hussein’s fall, the government controlled the media with an iron fist. Most content accessible to Iraqis were pro-government propaganda. After the removal of said regime, the Iraqi media began to gain 
more ability to publicly and privately own media. The United States tried to reform the country into a more democratic and liberal style of society, but it failed. Recent conflicts have further destabilized the country and now today, Iraq’s press and media system is in shambles, making the country one of the most dangerous in the world for media coverage.
Despite the fact that Iraq’s constitution protects freedom of speech and expression, the media system is often controlled and censored, and the laws get overlapped anyway. Overall, Iraq is currently run as an authoritarian-style media environment. Anyone who has been accused of criticizing or insulting the government of Iraq can be subject to prison time for as long as seven years according to the Freedom House website. The Iraqi government has also criminalized libel and defamation via the 1968 Publications Law and the 1969 Penal Code.
With the current situation at Iraq, it is extremely dangerous for journalists to report inside the country. However, this doesn’t mean that no one living in the country haven’t tried to make strides towards better journalist safety and higher media freedom. The effort just wasn’t strong enough. The 2011 Journalist Protection Law was supposed help journalists with the promise of freedom of speech, even provide benefits offered to journalists who got injured on the job and nullify the requirement of a journalist membership, this failed also.
Despite attempts to liberalize the media system, it remains government-controlled. They do this through the Communications and Media Commission (CMC), who are responsible for regulating broadcast media in Iraq. Much of the censorship by CMC are as a result of “unprofessional coverage.” What do they consider as “unprofessional” though? Is criticizing the government in hopes of a better performance “unprofessional?” What about covering stories in different perspectives?
Iraqi authorities have continued harassing radio, television and broadcast stations on the content they release out to the public. An example of such incidents include, in September of 2013, television station Al-Baghdadiya was raided by authorities after they had released a news segment criticizing the government. This shows that the media is not free at all. Without the freedom to voice their opinions, this had created a chilled effect where stations and journalists are now censoring themselves out of fear of being punished by officials for the media content they produce. And it’s not just foreign journalists, even native journalists and crew members had been killed because of such violence that too often erupts.
The government controls the following media outlets: radio, television, print and even satellite. One media outlet has not been in complete control by the government and citizens could use that to their advantage for the time being, it is internet. Without government restriction, Iraqis had begun to switch to digital and social media in order to consume information and news. However, while internet consumption is growing in the country, penetration of the web is sorely lacking even when you include wireless standing only at just over 9%. It may still provide some means of hope for citizens who wish to freely express their thoughts but it will take a while for Iraq to re-stabilize itself. But, what’s to say that the Iraqi government controls the flow of media on the internet someday, too?
I don’t see a recovery happening in that country any time soon as long as recent violent events–such as the rise of the Islamic State–are currently happening. If Iraq does somehow recover from the recent chaos, it has to be on the country and its own people what form of society and media they should run on. Other countries from the outside can only do so much to help Iraq re-stabilize. Ultimately, Iraq has to make that commitment for the sake of its people. What about you, what are your thoughts about Iraq’s current situation with violence and how it’s impacting their media system? Send a comment down below to share your thoughts, opinions or disagreements.
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2014/iraq#.VGVaypUtC1t
