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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.
Keywords: Iraqi media, International media organizations, Media assistance, Media training, Media intervention
Introduction
The goal of this study is to provide a brief survey of international media organizations that work in Iraq by highlighting their sources of funding, type of activities and assistance, and the security threats that they encounter. Before the beginning of the military operations against Iraq in 2003, some international media organizations worked on media plans to develop the media sector. The aims of this assistance are related to training Iraqi journalists, empowering news organizations, supporting news agencies, and providing guidance and specialized expertise in certain areas. It is not clear whether they acted alone or were funded by the US government. The "The White Paper project" documents released by the National Security Archive clearly emphasized involving international media organizations in reforming the Iraqi media sector. This included establishing an independent public broadcasting service like the BBC which was later called the Iraqi Media Network (IMN) (www.imn.iq) and the Communications and Media Commission (CMC) (www.cmc.iq/en), Iraq's regulatory telecommunication and media body (Al-Rawi, 2013a). The Office of Reconstruction...