Editor-in-chief of U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quits, complaining of Ameri

[kskiska]

Editor-in-chief of U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quits, complaining of American control

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The head of a U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quit and said Monday he was taking almost his entire staff with him because of American interference in the publication.

On a front-page editorial of the Al-Sabah newspaper, editor-in-chief Ismail Zayer said he and his staff were ''celebrating the end of a nightmare we have suffered from for months ... We want independence. They (the Americans) refuse.''

Al-Sabah was set up by U.S. officials with funding from the Pentagon soon after the fall of Saddam Hussein last year. Since its first issue in July, many Iraqis have considered it the mouthpiece of the U.S.-led coalition, along with the U.S.-funded television station Al-Iraqiya.

Zayer said almost the entire staff left the paper along with him and that they were launching a new paper called Al-Sabah Al-Jedid (''The New Morning''), which would begin publishing Tuesday.

(snip)

''We had a project to create a free media in Iraq,'' Zayer said of the founding of Al-Sabah. ''They are trying to control us. We are being suffocated.''

more…
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/124/world/Editor_in_chief_of_U_S_funded_P.shtml

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Did Fox move into the space yet?

I've been trying to be realistic and patient about things in Iraq as far as getting out. My patience is running very thin these days...Sure hope Kerry wins and is able to bring some sanity to all of this hell.

[opihimoimoi]

2. The Pubs are Control Freaks and its gone Ebolaesque, its contagious

[Voltaire99]

3. Braver than American journalists, to say the least

Odd, isn't it, how the Iraqis seem to understand such trifling matters as sovereignty and freedom of the press better than their occupiers.

[Wind Dancer]

5. Exactly!

Couldn't have said it better.

[maggrwaggr]

4. gee, I guess they don't want to be "american style" journalists

What the hell's wrong with those Iraqis?

[abracadabra]

6. free press- free elections- free speech -equal rights

Which of the above with the Iraqi people get?
answer: none of the above

We bring freedom and democracy-
we come in peace to free the world from oppression...
when? where?
maybe it just takes a while...
at least long enough for our honorable freedom loving corporations to suck out the sweet crude --

some day maybe they can offer the general Iraqi population jobs as janitors in the new Halliberton blgs.

[lebkuchen]

7. The DoD has tried to use the same control over Stars & Stripes

The 'Stars and Stripes' - Not Forever (Jan. 2004)

Is the Pentagon trying to kill off its own newspaper, The Stars and Stripes?

That is what a number of outraged newspaper staffers are saying in the wake of an announcement that financial shortfalls will lead to staff layoffs and outsourcing of production and advertising and circulation support over the next two years.

<cut>

Its journalists have accompanied U.S. troops into every major conflict from World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following the end of major combat operations last spring, the newspaper opened a bureau in Iraq and has provided steady, comprehensive coverage of the troops there.

And that, furious staffers tell DefenseWatch, is where the trouble began. As the Stripes website announced last October:
"Between June and September, 2003, Stars and Stripes printed 200 letters from troops in the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait and other remote outposts that have led the fight against terrorism. Roughly 60 percent complained about various things, ranging from living conditions and problems with mail to redeployment dates back home. The remaining 40 percent urged the others to get on with their duty."

"With so many voices clamoring for attention, Stripes decided to try to find out what the ground truth was in Iraq. Three teams of reporters were dispatched there to see for themselves what it was like - to talk to as many service members as possible, and have them fill out a questionnaire."

<cut>

The disclosure of declining troop morale, one Stripes staffer says, "was a huge embarrassment to the Pentagon."



http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Defensewatch_012704_Offley,00.html