FWD: Iraq independent reporting source

Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 13:25:34 +0100
From: Florian Schneider <[email protected]>
Subject: <nettime> waiting for the war

Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist, who
reports for the
nationally syndicated Radio and TV show Democracy Now!
He is currently
based in Baghdad, Iraq, where he and filmmaker Jacquie
Soohen are
coordinating Iraqjournal.org, the only website
providing regular
independent reporting from the ground in Baghdad.

http://www.iraqjournal.org

FOX NEWS: 'The Network America Trusts' (to pay
'Saddam')
Filed February 1, 2003 by Jeremy Scahill

BAGHDAD–The sat phones are lined up. The tents are in
place. Dozens of
languages fill the smoke filled atrium. Every kind of
technical
equipment imaginable is scattered about. The scene
almost resembles an
eerie version of the quick set up for a heavy metal
concert. Welcome to
the Press Center on the ground floor of the Iraqi
Ministry of
Information. Over the last several weeks, low-paid
Iraqi construction
workers have rubbed elbows with journalists from CNN,
BBC, The New York
Times and a slew of other media outlets. The workers
are halfway
through a sizable construction project to expand the
Press Center to
accommodate the influx of the proverbial herds waiting
for the war.

Inside the building, tiny 6' x 6' cubicles are now the
hottest real
estate on the Baghdad market. Officially, the space
will cost you $500
a month. But space is limited and cash is flowing from
the pockets of
the major networks to Iraqi officials and the
government to ensure
access once the bombs start flying. But it is not just
the cubicles.
Under the government guidelines, journalists cough up
a handsome sum of
money to the government and individual officials. Here
are the bare
minimums for journalists operating in Baghdad:

- –$100/ day fee per journalist, cameraperson,
technical staff etc.
- –$150/ day fee for permission to use a satellite
telephone (which
the journalists have to provide themselves)
- –$50-100/ day for a mandatory government escort
- –$50-100/ day for a car and driver (some networks
have a fleet of
vehicles)
- –$75/ day for a room at the Al Rashid Hotel

That's already $500 and that doesn't include the
thousands of dollars
daily for each direct live satellite feed for TV
networks. Nor does it
include the bribes and "tips" shelled out left and
right. Nor does it
include the money handed over at border crossings and
the airport. The
networks don't like to talk about how much they
actually spend, but one
veteran of the media scene here estimated the cost for
a major TV
network at about $100,000 a month. Others say that is
a low estimate.
Almost all of this cash (except a few "tips" here and
there) goes
directly to the Iraqi government. Once you add up the
bill for the TV
networks alone, we're talking perhaps millions of
dollars in revenue a
month for the government.

There is a joke here that the major media outlets are
now competing
with oil smuggling as the number one money-maker for
the Iraqi
government. It is particularly ironic that while
Rupert Murdoch's
"troops" from FOX News Network rally for the war,
dismissing antiwar
activists as dupes of the Iraqi regime, the "network
America trusts" is
paying "Saddam" (as they refer to Iraq) hand over fist
tens of
thousands of dollars every month. But stroll down the
halls of the
press center and you'll see that Rupert's troops have
multiple
battalions. He also owns Sky News (the British version
of FOX), as well
as the Times of London. A bit of research would
probably find that
Murdoch owns other publications operating here as
well. FOX News
reporters (and others as well) like to say "for the
benefit of the
viewers" that their broadcasts are being monitored by
the Iraqi
government. Fair enough. But perhaps the Murdoch
Empire should begin
each of its reports or dispatches from Baghdad by
disclosing how much
money they paid "Saddam" today.

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