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Citizens’ media in Iraq

12 comments on Citizens’ media in Iraq

Citizens’ media in Iraq
: U.S. Marines in Iraq are raising money to equip seven TV stations in Iraq to be owned and operated by Iraqis. From the Spirit of America site:

News broadcasts in Iraq can be biased, inaccurate and incomplete – to put it mildly. Your contribution will create a television alternative owned and operated by Iraqis. This will provide better information, counter efforts to provoke and help reduce tensions….

It is essential to success of the Marine Corps’ mission in Iraq that the Iraqi people understand our sincerest desires to help them rebuild their country and lay the foundation for a viable and free democratic society.

This is wonderful on a few fronts: See how our soldiers are working hard to help the people of Iraq. Operation Give brings gifts to children. Soldiers are helping rebuild the nation after years of neglect. And now there is this effort to help Iraq. Note that contributions are being raised as a memorial to the soldier just killed in Iraq — one of three sisters there — and it is being given to benefit Iraqi orphans. Our soldiers care about the people of Iraq.

On another front, it’s great to see the recognition that putting the tools of media in the hands of people will be good for democracy (and let’s hope we don’t shut down these stations as we shut down a paper). I’ll be saying more about how we can all help to do this online as well soon. [via Armed Liberal]

12 responses to “Citizens’ media in Iraq”

  1. hen Avatar
    hen

    “let’s hope we don’t shut down these stations as we shut down a paper”; you are joking right? Al-Sadr’s rag that was nothing but a diatribe on why Iraqi’s must resist the occupation and kill Americans? that is the paper we should have allowed to remain?
    stick to spewing about Stern – it’s less offensive.

  2. Joe Peden Avatar
    Joe Peden

    Off topic [forgive me, Father, for, not knowing what I’m doing, I can’t help myself]: BenVeniste is in the process of asking an at least 10 minute “question” of Tenet — his time expired 3 minutes ago. Now he is done. He could get no answer because he ended up asking something apparently only able to be dealt with in closed session.
    Benveniste did not look too happy, so he must know nothing about AlQaeda?

  3. Joe Peden Avatar
    Joe Peden

    On the topic of shutting down Satyr’s [misspell intentional] paper, is this covered by Martial Law?

  4. syn Avatar
    syn

    While our media here in America has focused primarily on trying to destroy our war efforts, our soldiers and our citizens are finding ways and means to support our war efforts.
    I have made the choice to take all the money I spend on US publications, plus a few hundred dollars more, and convert that money to this worthwhile project.
    Democracy combined with Capitalism, this is where we find the real power of the people. Our media can try to shove their bias ideology down my throat, but I am not forced to buy it.

  5. Ebb Tide Avatar
    Ebb Tide

    Why isn’t this funded by the $87 Billion? Of course they should have local tv stations. How come the USA spent millions on Al Hurra and not on local Iraqi stations which would have had an authentic voice in country? This is why people say that the “plan” for the peace is lacking.

  6. hen Avatar
    hen

    funny ebb i don’t remember the “people” who have been whining about the “plan” ever mention this – my hindsight is 20/20 too.

  7. James C. Avatar
    James C.

    We’ve had a year of total control of the information infrastructure in Iraq and we STILL don’t have a viable source of information to counter al-Jajihad?
    I’m sorry, but that’s just pathetic.

  8. syn Avatar
    syn

    Amazing, we just fought a major war on an extraordinarily humanitarian level and everyone nitpicks everything to the death. Everyone is ranting away at the cause, the plan, the troops, the money, not getting the bad guys fast enough, not having built a democratic society the day after Saddam’s statue fell, where’s the fully loaded-ready-to-use WMD’s, the oil, Bush the bad,blah, blah, blah.
    A year later, we are still bitching about whether or not it was the right thing to do in removing the ruthless dictator.
    Our society engages at a level of an unattainable expectation from everything yet the majority really have done every little themselves to attain that expectation except bitch.
    Is anyone paying attention to how utterly pathetic we are becoming in all of this?
    If not, not one of us of us even deserves the freedom to debate over whether Stern’s right to spew his nasty diatribe falls under the concept of protected speech.

  9. alisonf Avatar
    alisonf

    Ebb Tide and James C.: I certainly hope you two are not Kerry supporters, because if you are, I am ashamed to be in the same group as you two.
    Quit whining! What do you want here? Do you want Bush to fail more than you want Iraq and America to succeed? It sure sounds like it. Donate money in the name of Kerry if you want a constructive peaceful end to this mess. Somehow I doubt you will.
    Sheesh.

  10. DSmith Avatar
    DSmith

    Hmmm. I donated enough for a videocam to that new SoA campaign today (and not my first with them). I’ve also supported Bush straight down the line. I don’t usually say such things, but given the comments on this thread, it seemed a possibly necessary preamble.
    Even though I strongly support our President and the war, criticism of our failure to do a good job in the propaganda wars is entirely justified imo, and it’s a point I’ve made for months.
    We are the best and brightest people on the planet when it comes to media and story-telling. We mostly *invented* modern media. And we employ it to great effect to sell everything from Coca-Cola to Miss USA to “Reality TV”. It is no end of puzzling to me that we don’t seem to be able to use it to directly further the interests of our nation. It’s tragic.
    This war (and I mean the big war, not just Iraq) is as much or more a propaganda war as a military war. We’re not even trying on the propaganda front. Not. Even. Trying. I wish we’d FIX that. Or at least try.
    To be fair, I think I know why our government is not good at this. As a free people, we have a strong aversion to propaganda. It’s Just Not Done (unless it’s to Save The Children, of course). So, we don’t develop any institutional capacity for it, and indeed if we tried to the Leftists would scream bloody murder. That doesn’t change the fact that this is a real weakness of ours. I don’t say a failing of Bush, because that’s not what it is. It’s us as a nation. It’s a weakness we have that’s a side-effect of part of our greatness. And that means this won’t be easy to fix. But I think we should try. And sweeping it under the rug won’t help.

  11. Ebb Tide Avatar
    Ebb Tide

    Why did they spend all that money on a tv station in virginia? To combat Al jazeera. Wouldn’t that money spent in Iraq, to have local tv in Iraq be better serving the problem? I still don’t understand what’s wrong with asking that question.
    It seems reasonable to me.

  12. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    I know: let’s send Howard Stern to Iraq! Let him put his money where his freedom-talking mouth is. Er, so to speak.
    Come on, Jeff, you have to think this is a great idea. After all, if America can’t be deprived of one single hour of Stern’s golden showers — oops! I mean voice — on the radio without falling into the abyss of perpetual Puritanism, how much worse must Iraq be, they who have never been exposed to the Great One? I’ll bet after a mere hour of one of his broadcasts of his “adult sex talk” those burkas will be in the trash can, Al-Jazeera will be shutting down its studios for lack of cash, and those “insurgents” will be slinking off into the hills in shame, knowing that they’ve finally been outdone.