Research Article Open Access

International media organizations' role in assisting the media sector in Iraq after 2003

Abstract

Several international media organizations worked in Iraq after 2003 to assist Iraqi news organizations and journalists in their work. This kind of assistance included providing technical guidance, equipment, logistical support, training, media monitoring and general consultancy in order to assist in building a new Iraqi media. Many of these international media organizations cooperated with the US authorities that offered funding for various media projects. Aside from critically reviewing previous declassified documents from Wiki leaks on the role of international media organizations, the study is complemented by an interview with the former head of IWPR in Iraq, Ammar Al Shahbander who was killed in Baghdad in May 2015. This cooperation was facilitated by the US government in the first phase to send a message to other Arab countries showing the positive change that can come with the new political and media system in Iraq. Whether by US authorities or international organizations, millions of dollars were spent after 2003 on improving the Iraqi media, yet what was achieved was not up to expectations partly due to lack of coordination among international media organizations and/or Iraqi institutions and the epidemic deterioration in the security situation

Ahmed Al-Rawi

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