Report: Iraqi Media Round Table, Erbil, July 2014

On July 3, 2014, the Media Academy Iraq hosted a roundtable discussion in Erbil for leading members of the Iraqi media. The event brought together producers, managers and editors-in-chief from some of the country's largest and leading news organisations.

Although the Media Academy Iraq has long assisted and helped to evaluate the evolution of a democratic and balanced press scene in Iraq, the situation for journalists in the country changed radically after Sunni Muslim extremists from the Islamic State group took control of territory in northern Iraq in early June. The aim of the roundtable was twofold. Firstly, to bring together the media producers, who would not normally meet during the course of their days, so they could discuss the new challenges they face as a group as well as any solutions for those problems. And, secondly, to assess how the Media Academy could assist with potential solutions suggested by the media producers and whether the Media Academy could adapt their own programme based on needs expressed by the media producers during this free and frank discussion.

This document sums up the main talking points from the discussion, which ran from 11am until 6pm at the Erbil International Hotel, as well as potential solutions, should they prove suitable and desirable.

The discussion was opened by the General Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany, Alfred Simms-Protz.

“I think we are facing a new reality in Iraq and this has not been understood by the international community,” Mr Simms-Protz said. “This is why you, the media representatives, have an important and essential role to play. Firstly because we need information, especially from inside the Caliphate, we need to know what is actually going on there. The world needs to know that. And we also want the world to understand that Kurdistan needs the world's support.”

“In the end I cannot see how the [Sunni Muslim extremist group] the Islamic State can permanently establish a state inside Iraq,” Mr Simms-Protz said. “But I also know there will be a difficult few months ahead.”

The discussion was then led by Dana Asad from the Media Academy Iraq and Anja Wollenberg, a director from the Berlin-based NGO, MICT International.

The morning session began with updates on the situation provided by journalists originally from Mosul, Tikrit and Kirkuk (their names have been redacted for security reasons).

Mosul:

The morning of the conference was a grim one for locals living in areas around Mosul; local journalists reported that the IS group had launched attacks on the local town of Sinjar the night before and that tens of thousands of Yazidi people – and ethno-religious group affiliated with Iraq's Kurds whom the extremists consider their enemy - were fleeing.

The Mosul journalists also spoke about how communications coming out of Mosul had changed in the recent past. The situation for journalists inside the city was extremely dangerous and becoming more so. The extremists there consider journalists the enemy. Several journalists had been taken for questioning by the IS group and had not been seen since. Most media professionals had left the city.

Citizen journalists and bloggers had been providing information but after the IS group had destroyed or blown up various important historical shrines in Mosul, including the significant and ancient mosque of the Prophet Yunus or Jonah, things had changed in the city and now it was no longer possible for locals to use cameras openly. Pictures were coming out that had been taken by cell phones but usually these had been taken as the person was pretending to talk on their phone.

Previously, the journalists said, Reuters had had someone inside the city supplying information but after the shrines were destroyed, this channel appeared to have dried up.

The journalists also said that there were two camera people operating inside the city with the IS group's permission. The pictures these people took were vetted by the IS group before being sent on to two Arabic-language broadcasters.

The IS group also have their own media outlets inside Mosul and this includes broadcast facilities. They have recruited the media professionals who remain in the city to work on these outlets, whether they are willing or not. Local journalists suggested that the speed at which IS was able to get certain facilities operating indicates that they have their own professionals working too.

The IS' own media in Mosul includes Al Bayan, a radio station which the Mosul reporters think also used to be broadcast in Syria. The station broadcasts for around three hours daily and content is mainly religious or disseminates the IS group's latest rules and regulations for Mosul.

Tikrit:

It seems to be extremely difficult to get information out of Tikrit. The journalist from Tikrit who attended the conference says he recently met a refugee from the city who suggested the city was lifeless under the IS' rule.

Kirkuk:

Journalists from Kirkuk explained that the situation in this province was slightly different from others. “The Daash of Kirkuk is not the original Daash,” this reporter explained. “It's just how we describe them.”

There were around eight different groups onside the Kirkuk area jockeying for leadership.

The journalist from Kirkuk also spoke about the existence of a so-called “reformist” wing of the IS group, what he referred to as the “good Daash”. This group apparently wants to stop oil from being sold illegally and to rescue the prisoners that the IS was holding. Of the around 1 million inhabitants of the Kirkuk province, around 400,000 are thought to be under the control of the IS group, the journalist said.

Following the updates from the local reporters, the rest of the pre-lunch session and the afternoon were devoted to a discussion of the challenges the Iraqi media are facing currently, as well as how they are dealing with news and information about the IS group.

These can be categorised under two major headings: How to deal with the IS group in terms of journalistic ethics, fairness and balance. And then: How to deal with all the varied streams of information from the various sectors, including the local military and the IS group. There were also a number of other points raised.

A summary of the main talking points follows below.

Ethics and the Islamic State

Sarmad al-Tai, Al Mada, Baghdad: The challenge is not how to deal with the IS group per se but how to deal with them in a climate of increased sectarian tension – a sectarian tension that is worsening thanks to the IS group's activities. As media organisations we need to find different ways of expressing things and we also need to cooperate on certain issues. We also need to be more balanced. For example, if IS executes three people, everyone will write about it. If the other side does this, nobody says anything.

Mushreq Abbas, Iraq Bureau Chief, Al Hayat: We need to publish all the facts, not just be selective. We also need to be aware that we can change the shape of the situation by what we publish.

Niyaz Abdullah, producer at Radio Nawa, Erbil: We need to ask ourselves several questions. What has the IS group done to the media scene here? Secondly what does the IS group want? What does the Iraqi government want? And what do the Iraqi public want?

Dana Asad, Media Academy Iraq: Dealing with the IS group is not all that different from the Iraqi media's past dealings with other extremist groups like Al Qaeda. The biggest difference is that the IS group has the support of local communities. I think the IS group purely want to spread fear and they have managed to do it through the media. So what should we do as media – publish all the information that we get? Or stop publications of all the videos coming from the IS?

It is also important to deal with local military forces in the same way. We should not just publish information that supports local military but also report on wrong doing or losses.

Dr Hakim, Dean of journalism school at the Technical University, Sulaymaniyah: I think we should always think about the effects of what we are publishing on the community. We should also consider “the other”. In the end a Peshmerga or Iraqi soldier are both human, they both have families.

Rahman Gharib, Director, Metro Centre to Defend Journalists: We should talk about both sides. The Kurdish media is obviously biased on the side of the peshmerga.

At the end of this discussion there was also a lively debate sparked by comments from Dr Hakim. He spoke about how it was important to acknowledge that Kurdish media were writing for Kurdish audiences and Arab media were writing for Arab audiences in Iraq. This was countered by other journalists who felt the same could be said about Shiite Muslim media and Sunni Muslim media and how this kind of sentiment only led to an increase in ethnic or sectarian tensions.

Information Overload

Those in attendance agreed that unverified information from a number of sources was a problem. Where journalists had previously been able to telephone locals in areas under the IS group's control, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get trustworthy and accurate information out of areas controlled by the IS group. Often the IS group were publishing their own statements on the Internet and this was also causing problems with misinformation that was eventually published. Everyone acknowledged the importance of double checking information from unknown sources and from social media.

The other big issue for many media producers was being able to get accurate information from military and political sources. Given what was happening on that day in Iraq – the IS group were involved in clashes with the Iraqi Kurdish military around three hours from Erbil – journalists were critical of the fact that it was very hard to get hold of any official information from the Iraqi Kurdish military. They suggested that at times of crisis, the Iraqi Kurdish government/military should arrange press briefings for local media and ensure that there was a spokesperson available to contact.

Journalist from Tikrit: There was a meeting between [Iraqi Kurdish President] Massoud Barzani and some politicians and they said that we shouldn't publish numbers of those killed or other sensitive military information or reports about exactly what is happening. Otherwise we would endanger Peshmerga troops.

Ali Saray, Ynews: Some organisations need to change the way they treat journalists.

Dlovan Barwari, Network for Iraqi reporters for Investigative Journalism: For example we might hear that the IS fighters are moving into a certain area [like Sinjar]. But the local people say they cannot see anyone and they are not there yet. So then I called the Peshmerga spokesperson and he tells me there is no fighting in Sinjar and where did you get this information? Did you get this from the IS?

Additional points raised:

There was a call for more analysis and commentary alongside straightforward news reporting. There also seems to be a lack of backgrounders and features talking about the history or circumstances in which events arose – the focus tends to be on news reporting.

Mushreq Abbas, Baghdad Bureau Chief, Al Hayat: As journalists I think we have failed to understand the Iraqi people and their political points of view. The media's job is not just to publish and edit and report but also to give opinions, to share a point of view.

The fact that local reporters were relatively inexperience in covering combat situations was also discussed, as was the fact that local military did not know how to deal with reporters who accompanied them onto the front lines.