In the midst of continued guerilla warfare against coalition forces, escalating terrorist activity throughout the country, and shortages of even basic resources like electricity and water, there is at least one sign that US President George Bush’s war in Iraq has had some positive impact. An Iraqi media once completely controlled by Saddam Hussein's regime now enjoys freedoms unheard of just six months ago, and the number of news sources is burgeoning. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Worldwide reports that some 180 newspapers and other publications are currently available to Iraqi readers. The fare ranges from the Iraqi Communist Party monthly journal to tabloids with full-page spreads of international pop stars. Even a national radio and television network has formed at a time when local stations are slowly struggling to get off the ground.

While the recent changes in the media market reflect significant progress, this first step poses many new problems. Civil libertarians in the United States often point to the US Constitution's First Amendment, which grants freedom of the press, as one of the hallmarks of a healthy democracy. Part of the argument is that a well-informed populace is the best defense against tyranny, and a thriving free media helps educate the public. Yet though the Iraqi people may be receiving more information than ever before, the quality of the country's infant journalistic institutions is far from top-notch. Of course, one might easily raise a similar critique of the US media (or that of any other state), particularly regarding coverage of divisive and controversial issues. Why then even raise the issue so prematurely if the debate could carry over to any state’s media?

The difference in Iraq is the heavy-handed role of the US-led coalition—and perhaps a UN presence in the future—in creating a vibrant Iraqi civil society. The practices of the media in Western states may be questioned, but in the here and now, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) wields an immense power to create practices that heretofore have never existed in Iraq, or, for that matter, in a large swath of the Middle East. What, then, are the current problems, and what is the CPA's proposed solution?

Most troubling is the paucity of sources that attempt (or even pretend) to undertake objective, facts-based journalism. Rumors are often reported without substantiation. For example, one recent paper reported that Jews will soon be hoarding Baghdad real estate in the hopes of creating a new West Bank-type settlement, while another asserted that US soldiers were raping women and spreading AIDS. The August 29, 2003, bombing of a Shi'a mosque in Najaf saw no shortage of accusations of US covert involvement. The rapid rise of news outlets in what was previously a media vacuum filled only by Saddam’s voice has created a chaotic picture of daily events. Even a potentially accurate report, like one detailing Israeli contingency plans to use Iraqi airspace for air attacks against Iran in the event of a nuclear crisis, loses credibility in this kind of environment.

The CPA explicitly prohibits any material that incites violence, promotes ethnic tension, or encourages opposition to its authority through false information, and it has conducted several raids on organizations. One paper, Al-Mustaquillah (“The Independent”) was shut down for promoting the killing of Iraqis who cooperate with the CPA as “religious duty.” In this instance, CPA intervention seems justified, but in a country still ravaged by violence and lack of basic resources, it will not always be easy to decide when media outlets cross the line.

One way the Coalition intends to fill the vacuum with a stabilizing force is through its own media network. Efforts began even before the Coalition’s military victory, as the US Department of Defense funded a fledgling radio network broadcast from a C-130 cargo plane. At present, the US-backed Iraqi Media Network (IMN) has AM and FM radio stations along with a television network that can reach two-thirds of Iraqi households. While part of the IMN’s stated mission is to foster journalistic values for the broader Iraqi media market and create a highly regarded, independent institution in the mold of the BBC, it has undergone harsh criticism as a mouthpiece of the CPA and its propaganda.

In the immediate future, the IMN will continue to suffer this stigma in part due to the immediacy of the Coalition’s control over the country. Until the CPA returns Iraqi sovereignty to the hands of a democratically elected government, its media arm will be unable to provide a model for objective journalism. Indeed, Newsweek quotes one IMN official who described the organization's news program as “completely unprofessional.” Indeed, IMN's television director quit at the end of July 2003 in protest of the network's limited funding.

The latest effort to stabilize Iraq’s new media is the appointment of a new media commissioner, Simon Haselock, to govern the press and broadcasters, establish training programs for journalists, and oversee the transformation of IMN into a state-run media organization. While the stalwart conservative Weekly Standard calls Haselock’s appointment “bad news for the Iraqi free media,” the move seems relatively benign at present. Establishing oversight of the Iraqi media rather than continuing the ad hoc supervision of the CPA is a positive step, and training journalists is clearly a necessity in light of the wildly inaccurate reports issued everyday on the streets of Baghdad. Whether a new commission will accomplish its goals is yet to be seen.

The stakes, for both Iraq and its neighbors, however, are clear. As the daily Al-‘Adala noted in late August 2003, there is no small irony that “the [Arab] media sheds crocodile tears over democracy in Iraq while there are many questions about applying the same standards in most of the Arab countries.” The point is apt, but while many Iraqis might dismiss their neighbors’ hypocritical cries, the Iraqi media cannot dismiss their own critical role in fostering a healthy, informed democracy and stemming the tears both inside and outside Iraq.