Hey, when Ari tells Americans to "watch what they say," why should mere Iraqis be any better off?
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http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld ... -headlines
Coalition to curb Iraqi press
Journalists criticize U.S. plan for conduct code against fiery speech
Associated Press
Originally published June 5, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Faced with a freewheeling Iraqi media, the U.S.-led occupation authority is devising a code of conduct for the press, drawing protests from Iraqi journalists who endured censorship under Saddam Hussein and worry for their newfound freedom.
Coalition officials say the code is not intended to censor the media, only to stifle intemperate speech that could incite violence and hinder efforts to build a civil society. The country is too fragile for a journalistic free-for-all, they say.
"There's no room for hateful and destabilizing messages that will destroy the emerging Iraqi democracy," Mike Furlong, a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority, told the Associated Press. "All media outlets must be responsible."
U.S. forces have reason to worry about instability. Divisions run deep in postwar Iraq, a tribal society split between majority Shiite Muslims and minority Sunnis and between Arabs, Kurds and smaller ethnic groups. Also, there is a thick seam of distaste for the American occupation.
The issue is also proving another example of the coordination problems that bedevil the effort to rebuild Iraq. As coalition officials draw up press regulations, the U.S. State Department brought together media people this week in Athens, Greece, to devise a proposed rule book for Iraqi journalists.
Naheed Mehta, a coalition spokeswoman, said occupation officials didn't know about the Athens meeting.
Representatives of the Athens group didn't know about the code being drawn up in Baghdad.
Asked about the unofficial proposal put together in Athens, Mehta said, "There's no reason why that can't feed into our work."
Coalition officials haven't released details of their planned code. Iraqi journalists, when told of the idea, worried that it could lead to censorship.
"How can they say we have a democracy?" demanded Eshta Jassem Ali Yasseri, 25, editor of the new satirical weekly Habezbooz. "That's not democracy. It sounds like the same old thing."
Under Hussein, all media were controlled by the government, and anyone who strayed beyond the official line was punished. But in the weeks since Hussein's government fell, new newspapers and other media have sprouted, blanketing the streets with information and opinions - some of which have called for resistance or even violence.
"Under America's watch: raping, killing, burning and looting," read a recent headline in Al-Ahrar, a new semiweekly paper. Another newspaper, Al-Haqiqa, this week began publishing excerpts of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - an anti-Semitic forgery by the Russian czarist secret police that purported to be a plan for Jewish domination of the world economy.
Mehta said the Coalition Provisional Authority's regulations would ban hate messages, including statements likely to "incite violence or ethnic or racial hatred."
"I'm not going to comment on specifics. They are still in the discussion phase," she said. "These are all issues that need to be looked at."
The Americans are making clear they are keeping an eye on Iraqi media.
Editors at the new daily newspaper Al-Manar said U.S. soldiers turned up at its offices last week to tell them about a new media monitoring board and ask for their opinion.
"They plan to set up a committee, and some jerks will be on it," said Mohamad Jubar, the editor in chief. "I'll fight any attempt at censorship."
Iraqi liberators clamp down on free press
Re: Iraqi liberators clamp down on free press
Rspaight wrote:Hey, when Ari tells Americans to "watch what they say," why should mere Iraqis be any better off?
I think it's even funnier that this administration, which drops to its knees for the NRA, is trying to get the Iraqi people to voluntarily disarm.
I'm glad we have a man in office who had the guts to make it legal to carry a concealed deadly weapon in church and amusement parks in Texas. Why shouldn't the Iraqis enjoy these same wonderful liberties?