For Many Iraqis, U.S.-Backed TV Echoes the Voice Of Its Sponsor

[kskiska]

Station Staffers Acknowledge Their Reluctance to Criticize

(snip)

Nine months after U.S. forces closed Iraq's state-run television stations and subsequently launched the new channel with promises of a democratic dawn for the country's news media, the Pentagon-sponsored station has not won the trust of many Iraqis. By seeking to cast the U.S. occupation in the most favorable light, al-Iraqiya may actually be losing the war for viewers' hearts and minds.

"Al-Iraqiya is failing," said Jaafar Saddiq, assistant dean at Baghdad's College of Media. "It's technically backward. Its message is not convincing. It can't compete with other stations."

Executives and journalists at al-Iraqiya say there are few taboos in their coverage and that they are free to address the everyday concerns of Iraqis. But many Iraqis say that those assertions have no more credibility than al-Iraqiya's nightly newscasts, which fuel the widespread conviction that al-Iraqiya is the mouthpiece for the U.S.-led military alliance and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi leadership.

"We're concerned about the difficulties of the people, about the promises that the coalition made that they haven't fulfilled. We don't see much about that," said Basseem Sattar, 31, a Baghdad taxi driver sipping sweet tea in a spartan cafe.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63166-2004Jan7.html

[Rex]

1. Next week on Al-Iraqiya TV: a new reality show called

Try to Stay Alive!

[chenGOD]

2. Hey it could be worse.

They could be getting a real "fair and balanced" look courtesy of FAUXnews.

[daleo]

3. All TV echos the voice of its sponsors

Nothing new about that. Occasionally something surprising shows up, but basically TV (including North American TV) says what its sponsors want it to say.