Journalists in Iraq

Former NUJ President Tim Lezard reports how journalists are at the forefront of building democracy in Iraq

‘Freedom is not free’ reads the monument to the 98 victims of a terrorist bomb in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Neither, it seems, is the media, with journalists being jailed and newspapers closed down by the government.

But journalists – and trade unionists - aren’t giving up because they realise just how important the media is to Iraq’s fledgling democracy.

“The situation in Iraq, especially Baghdad, is difficult but we are determined to move forward peacefully to build a democratic Iraq,” says Hadi Ali, Vice President of the Iraqi Workers’ Federation (their version of our TUC).

“ We’ve tried to build new, independent trade unions, totally different from the old ones. We struggled to beat Saddam, now we are struggling to build a strong, federal Iraq.”

I’m in Iraqi Kurdistan on a fact-finding mission with Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) and although we’re based in Erbil, we meet with trade unionists from all over Iraq, representing more than a million workers.

Part of their vision is a free media and at least the situation now is better than it was under Saddam’s regime, when newspapers were solely government propaganda.

Today there are more than 100 newspapers – and countless radio and TV
stations - across the country, the majority of which are aligned to political parties, but several of which are independent.

This independence causes its own problems because although, theoretically, journalists are free to criticise the authorities, a free press is not enshrined in law and some politicians aren’t used to taking flak from what was a compliant media.

Shilan Yassen Kyder, a reporter for Bazui Krekar Journal in Erbil and a member of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, says self-censorship is rife.

“If you write on an issue that is unacceptable to society, you will go to court,” she says, matter-of-factly. “Always you are told you have freedom, but you are restricted. In general, it’s OK to criticise the government, but if your criticism is personal, you are in trouble, even if what you write is true.”

This is borne out by the imprisonment of a journalist in Sulamani two weeks before we arrive.

During a meeting in the city, Prime Minister Omer Fattah proudly tells our delegation: “There are many free TV and radio stations which can work without censorship. I’d like to stress there is not one single person who has been arrested for the charge of free speech.”

Apart, I point out, from the man who has just been arrested. “Ah, yes,” he replies. “I told them to set him free.”

What had he done?

“His writing was provocative and was not right.”

What had he written?

“He pushed people to sabotage and demonstrate against the government.
Journalists must not provoke people to terrorism. He called our leaders
‘tyrants’ and asked people to kick them out.”

Despite government claims then, imprisonment is an occupational hazard for journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan, but at least newspapers are being printed. Elsewhere in Iraq, the government has prevented even that.

“We had a newspaper that we produced every month, but now we can’t afford it,” says Adnan al-Safar, the IWF’s media officer.

“Decree 8750 [a ruling that allows the government to steal all trade union money] has stopped us from printing it.