An Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) official said on Monday it had decided to restrict 39 media outlets, including the BBC and Voice of America (VOA), but some outlets said there were no problems so far.
The Journalism Freedoms Observatory (JFO), an Iraqi media rights organization, meanwhile, said the CMC had in fact recommended banning 44 news outlets, and called for the move — which it said violated the constitution — to be reversed.
“The commission published an announcement in all newspapers in February calling for [media outlets] to take licenses in two months to resolve their situations,” said Salem Mashkur, a member of the board of trustees of the CMC, the independent authority charged with regulating media organizations in Iraq.
“But only a small number applied and 39 media outlets preferred not to come and not to apply the law,” he said.
Mashkur alleged that VOA had never obtained a license, while the BBC had done so for its Arabic, but not its English service.
“The interior ministry requested a list of names of unlicensed channels from us and began to limit their travel only, and did not carry out raids or closures or confiscation of equipment, as is our right,” he said, adding that the aim was to “help them and the organization of the work, only.”
The JFO, however, said it had obtained a copy of a document issued by the CMC that “recommends banning 44 Iraqi and foreign media agencies from working in various areas in Iraq.”
“Included are prominent local TV channels and radio stations such as Sharqiya and Baghdadia satellite television stations and foreign-owned media such as BBC, Radio Sawa and Voice of America,” the JFO said in an e-mailed statement.
“The JFO calls on CMC to withdraw regulations which violate the Iraq constitution, which guarantees the freedom of the press, and to follow existing media legislation,” it said.
The group also called on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “to rein in the behavior of the CMC, since he appointed its acting chief.”
However, the BBC said it was not currently experiencing problems.
“The BBC’s journalists in Baghdad are not currently experiencing any issues reporting from the country,” a BBC spokeswoman said. “It is important that the BBC and other international news organizations are able to operate freely and bring independent and impartial news to audiences in Iraq and the wider region.”
And VOA spokesman Kyle King said that “both Radio Sawa and Voice of America are still on the air in Iraq” and that “we continue to work with Iraqi authorities to ensure compliance with any new Iraqi regulations and licenses.”
“This appears to be a regulatory matter concerning frequencies and licensing that’s being discussed between local and federal officials in Iraq,” King said. “There is nothing indicating it is directed at reporters in the field.”
Iraq regularly ranks near the bottom of global press freedom rankings. It placed 152nd out of 179 countries in media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders’ 2011-2012 World Press Freedom Index, down 22 from the year before.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not