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COVID-19 in Iraq: How public interest media can save lives

2020-05-05T09:11:40+00:00

A pop song about protecting yourself from COVID-19 is blaring from loudspeakers in a hospital in Baghdad and has racked up over 9 million views on YouTube. The public interest broadcaster behind it, Al Mirbad, is a rare and trusted voice for news and information in Basra – read more about its vital work during the pandemic from our Iraq country director, Abir Awad.

Still from an Al Mirbad video skit about COVID-19

Iraq was just registering its first handful of COVID-19 cases when Al Mirbad’s Editor-in-Chief was approached by Dr Abbas Timmimi, Director of the Basra Health Department.

He felt warnings about the approaching pandemic were not being taken seriously enough – by the public, and also by the central government, which had not enforced border closures with Iran due to a fear of backlash from Iranian-backed militias, even though Iran was one of the worst affected countries at that time.

Al Mirbad is a household name in Iraq, renowned for providing impartial and accurate news, investigative journalism, political satire and social content to its ever-growing audiences on radio and digital media since its founding by �� Media Action in 2005.

With 48% of adults in Basra being regular Al Mirbad consumers, and with Basra being one of the provinces worst affected by COVID-19, the broadcaster is uniquely placed to help people survive the pandemic and cope with its repercussions on daily life. And true to its reputation, Al Mirbad’s reporting from the border crossing with the Director exposed the issue and led central government to finally close the border, helping to limit further spread of the virus in Iraq.

Since then, Al Mirbad has worked closely with health officials to host a regular slot with experts, providing clear advice on a range of topics including self-isolation, how the virus spreads, and testing, as well as debunking misinformation around herbal remedies and helping to counter rumours that cause public harm. When much of the Iraqi media fell for false claims that a company in Suleimaniya has developed a cure, Al Mirbad held back, chose not to run the story, talking instead to the WHO representative in Iraq to set the record straight.

A key component of Al Mirbad’s work is producing hugely popular satirical skits intended to reach wider audiences, including those turned off by traditional news and information. Our previous research shows the skits have led to strong attitudinal change amongst audiences across Iraq, and our hope is that this trend will continue for its latest skits relaying critical information about COVID-19.

For example, this is Al Mirbad’s take on an Egyptian pop song, using new lyrics to explain the need for a lockdown and support the medical and security services. The song features Al Mirbad’s well-known actors, alongside medical teams, police and security forces in Basra. It has already exceeded 9 million views on YouTube, and has been played on loudspeakers in hospitals in Baghdad to boost morale:

The pandemic came following months of public protests against unemployment, corruption, poor services and dismay with the country’s political system. There was already boiling frustration amid large numbers of unemployed youth, many of whom had settled in makeshift tents in large protest hubs in Baghdad, Basra and other southern cities.

Al Mirbad designed another online skit to engage specifically with them – using rap to champion staying at home and encourage social responsibility. The song plays out counter-arguments to common reasons for defying curfew, such as feeling trapped, and argues that staying home is the responsible choice, rather than caving in and giving up on protester’s demands.

Al Mirbad plays a critical role in holding government to account in a country still struggling in a shaky transition to democracy. As such, Al Mirbad’s job is to be critical and challenging towards public officials. But public interest media also has a critical role to play in communicating health information in a crisis so that people can make decisions to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy. As Dr Abbas puts it:

“Without Al Mirbad and especially without Qif L-Tahshish [the social media skits] we would not have been able to reach the public with critical communications about this crisis.”

Abir Awad is the Iraq Country Director for �� Media Action.

�� Media Action ended its partnership with Al Mirbad in 2021, following a change in control of the organisation.

To find out more about the importance of public interest media around the world, and a proposed solution to the crisis facing independent media, read this new Feasibility Study for an International Fund for Public Interest Media.

Lifeline radio for displaced Iraqis

2017-02-07T17:37:34+00:00

“The food we are given is not suitable for human consumption. They’ve taken away our identity cards and our phones,” says Ahmed during a phone-in programme at Radio Nawa, an independent radio station broadcasting across Iraq.

The caller is one of tens of thousands displaced from the Mosul area of northern Iraq. He’s in his own country but is not allowed to leave the UN-managed camp where he’s taken shelter; Iraqi security forces suspect anyone who has lived in Mosul during the past two years of being an IS sympathiser.

Radio Nawa and �� Media Action worked closely with the UN refugee agency UNHCR to distribute radios to thousands of internally displaced people living in tents. This gives them access to news and information - something they lacked both in Mosul under IS and in the camps.

An Iraqi child from an IDP camp is shown listening to a radio distributed with support from UNHRC, �� Media Action and Radio Nawa.

Radio is seen as decidedly “old” technology. Iraqis prefer social media and satellite television. But for Ahmed and many others, this is now a lifeline. So much so that the first thing he did when his father visited him was to borrow his phone and call Radio Nawa.

UNHCR calculates about 160,000 people were recently displaced in northern Iraq. This brings the total number of displaced since IS arrived to three million people. Not all are in camps. Even so the vast majority face problems with the basics of civil life; such as how to sit exams when you are registered in another province or how to get your pension when far away from your assigned pension office.

Phoning in

With �� Media Action’s support, Radio Nawa produces a daily two-hour programme where people can phone in, raise their issues and seek an answer from one of the officials invited to join the show.

It’s not just about venting. For people in need it’s about trying to find solutions and link up the dots: families stranded in an isolated spot near the front line and in desperate need of aid, a woman from the camp in need of an urgent operation, a boy who wanted to sit his exams but was not allowed to leave the camp. The calls have prompted provincial officials to respond, many times successfully. The stranded families got help, the woman had her operation and the boy sat his exams. They all phoned back to thank Radio Nawa, including the officials themselves.

In theory, when compared to the Syrian refugee crisis, the situation in Iraq should be simpler to resolve. After all, the majority of Iraqis who fled IS are displaced within their own country. Iraq is not poor and there is a ministry that deals with migration and displacement. But the status of internally displaced people is a political hot potato.

One of the people the team from Nawa talks to when they visit the camps says his house is a kilometre away, but he’s not been allowed to return. He is not quite sure of the reasons. It’s a complicated story in keeping with a complex situation - one in which many factors come into play, including Iraq's sectarian divide and a long-standing territorial dispute between Kurds and Arabs. When IS first came to the region locals often said they were more afraid of government security forces than of IS.

Lifeline radio

A month after distributing the radios, Nawa’s team holds the first “information clinic” in the camp, bringing with them officials and microphones. It's especially valuable for those without phones and unable to make contact any other way.

It is overwhelming listening to them.

There are countless satellite TV channels in Iraq – mobile phone use is extensive and Facebook for mobile is probably the most prolific means of getting information and keeping in touch.

Yet as this latest twist in Iraq’s long and difficult journey from dictatorship and international sanctions to a shaky democracy shows, radio is once again a lifeline.

�� Media Action began working in Iraq in 2004, setting up and assisting local radio to give the community a voice and hold officials to account.

A step backwards: media in today's Iraq

2014-06-26T08:38:29+00:00

Iraqi men and children sit outside their tent in a camp for people fleeing fighting around the city of Mosul.

As news came in earlier this month that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) had taken Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, I turned on my TV and satellite box in London to see how Iraqi TV channels were covering the crisis. To my surprise, what I saw transported me back to my life in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's three wars. Once again, I saw a presenter on one of the pro-government channels wearing military uniform. Once again, I heard the popular chanting and poetry that the Ba'ath regime's propaganda machine had used to fill the airwaves.

Media in Iraq is split across a sectarian and political divide. In response to the advance by ISIS, channels affiliated with the current Shia government have fallen back into such old habits, none more so than the publicly-funded broadcaster, the Iraqi Media Network.

In an interview with the local Iraqi newspaper Alalem about his channel's coverage, Iraqi Media Network's head Abdul Jabar Al Shaboot said that "broadcasting patriotic songs, and national military anthems is something which any country will do in the circumstances. It's about winning hearts."

Following pressure from the Iraqi government, the Iraqi regulator, the Communications and Media Commission, has also overstepped its professional regulatory role and issued recommendations that the media should not publish photos, footage or statements from ISIS and that they should highlight the military achievements of the Iraqi army.

Some politicians have gone further by accusing anyone who is not pro-actively backing the government's battle for hearts and minds of supporting terrorism and "aligning" themselves with ISIS. The Iraqi government have come out in condemnation of pan-Arab channels such as the Saudi-backed Al Arabiya for using the expression "tribal rebels" rather than "ISIS terrorists" in their coverage.

Seizing an opportunity to show loyalty to the government, channels such as Afaq TV or Al Ahad, are also now displaying their religious or ethnic allegiances. They have slipped into sectarian speech either directly or indirectly through on-air contributors.

In contrast, ISIS is using the latest media methods: apps, social media and even a feature-length movie have been created to spread their message and recruit new followers.

While the Iraqi national media play their poetry and propaganda, it is images and statements by ISIS that are appearing in the main headlines of some local news agencies – and in the international media.

As part of a wide-scale project, we at �� Media Action have been working to improve the media landscape in Iraq and the provisions for freedom of information and freedom of expression, as well as supporting public service broadcasting that fulfils the needs of nation building.

In April this year, we introduced a new broadcasting code of practice which was signed off by the board of governors of the Iraqi Communication and Media Commission. This new code talk specifically about how to cover acts of terrorism and how not to slip into broadcasting ethnic or religious hate speech.

With emotions running so high and the country in danger of fracturing deeply along a sectarian divide, it is perhaps more important than ever that regulators and public service broadcasters fulfil a professional role.

We hope to work closely with the regulator to bring it back to comply with these professional standards rather than fall back on the ways of the old regime in our digital age. A firm commitment to the new code of practice for broadcasters can’t come soon enough.

Consolidating Media Freedom is a strategic programme funded by the UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the United States government's Department for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour and EuropeAid.

Related links

�� Media Action's work in Iraq

Read: The media of Iraq: ten years on

Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to �� Media Action

Coming home for the first time

2014-02-13T11:21:53+00:00

I never thought that a �� project called Consolidating Media Freedoms would be the impetus behind my first ever trip to Iraq, but a few weeks ago I found myself on a plane to Baghdad to do exactly that.

The trip promised to be both interesting and complex. Our mission was to meet with a wide range of the Iraqi media community, from media professionals to parliamentarians to civil society activists, and begin a dialogue around public service broadcasting, its fundamentals and merits.

Our work would hopefully help nurture the Iraqi Media Network, a public service broadcast organisation launched by the Coalition Provision Authority in 2004, and enable it to wholly represent and complement the needs and nuance of Iraqi society, politics, culture and people.

But for me the trip had added personal resonance – I was an Iraqi native who had never been to Iraq.

Baghdad memories

Social and political circumstance has meant that my two Iraqi parents have lived between the UK, Kuwait and Jordan since leaving Baghdad, their native city, in the early '70s.

As a result, despite growing up in the Middle East, speaking Arabic (with a strongly Iraqi dialect) and holding an Iraqi passport up until my late teens, I’d never actually visited the country itself.

I’d heard stories from my family of growing up there: of coffeehouses, cinemas, sleeping on roofs under the stars and walks down the Tigris.

What was it going to be like now? After 35 years of wars, brutal sanctions, an invasion and occupation, and now heightened sectarian tension and violence?

Split emotions

My reaction was a conflicted one.

On the one hand I was excited and overwhelmed by the beautiful old colonial houses, the avenues that looked like they were straight out of the old Arabic soap operas we used to watch, the beautiful Abu Nawas Street that stretched out along the Tigris River, with gorgeous green parks and gardens and the delicious Masgouf (local grilled carp) that I’d heard so much about.

It felt good to be in the country of my origin, to finally put a picture to the stories.

But on the other hand, it made me ache inside that life in Baghdad was so tough.

A day in the life of every Baghdadi means a series of endless checkpoints, sniffer dogs, armed forces and tanks, military helicopters flying low and the occasional sound of a suicide bomb in the distance. The beautiful parks of Abu Nawas Street were pretty much empty the entire time I was there, except for the occasional group of soldiers taking a break.

Encouraging signs

We had good meetings, lots of them, with Iraqis wanting to find a way to deal with the current political and security situation. There was hope and encouraging action for us to progress and develop.

The Iraqi Media Network’s headquarters in Baghdad.

We facilitated a unique meeting with the Parliamentary Media and Culture Committee and the Board of Governors of the Iraqi Media Network who met for the first time to discuss, with our advice, the future of the IMN, the development of a truly Iraqi public service broadcaster and how this would be reflected in new laws that should be passed.

However while all of this was taking place, civil war is currently raging in the province of Anbar, threatening once more to alter of course of planned elections in April.

For the resilient residents of Baghdad, meanwhile, daily life goes on.

Related links

�� Media Action's work in Iraq

�� Media Action's work in Middle East and North Africa

Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to �� Media Action

Radio Al Mirbad seven years on

2012-07-11T08:18:26+00:00

�� Media Action set up Iraqi radio station Al Mirbad seven years ago.

Last month, Radio Al Mirbad celebrated its seventh anniversary: quite an achievement for an independent radio station in Iraq. Founded in 2005 in Basra, Al Mirbad has seen its audience through their first post-Saddam elections, days of militia control, political assassinations and sectarian violence. It has forged a strong bond with the local community.

Al Mirbad was set up by �� Media Action as a television and radio station, but threats to staff at the height of the sectarian strife in 2007 forced television production off air. The radio programming has gone on, and has gone from strength to strength. With funding from the US State Department and the support of �� Media Action, Al Mirbad is now expanding. Just before its anniversary, three new transmitters were installed which brought all major urban areas in southern Iraq, populated by almost ten million people, within its reach.

This expansion allows the station to reach areas that have, up until now, only had access to either state-run or highly partisan radio programming. Al Mirbad’s reputation for holding officials to account through its reporting has preceded it. At a meeting of the provincial council in Kut in eastern Iraq (newly covered by Al Mirbad), a reporter told officials to “be prepared for the storm coming your way”. Tackling Iraq’s culture of impunity for officials and allowing citizens to voice their opinions and concerns is a key focus for Al Mirbad and one that we hope will bring positive changes to the lives of people in its new coverage areas.

With the same State Department funding, in May Al Mirbad also launched its new web platform on almirbad.com.The website now offers Al Mirbad the chance to reach an even wider audience, allowing readers across Iraq and the world to access its reports and programming. It also offers them the chance to interact further with the station, be it through Facebook, online forums or online polls.

Some may question the benefit of creating a news website in Iraq, where internet penetration lags far behind most of its neighbours in the region. Accurate statistics are difficult to come by but estimates of penetration range from 10-15%. But this is beginning to change. The speed and affordability of the internet in Iraq are improving and it is becoming more and more prominent in daily life. Interestingly, the only way for Iraqis to apply for a driving license is now online.

As on the airwaves, online news is too often plagued by poor editorial standards and partisan agendas in Iraq. There is a significant gap, especially in the south, for a news website that offers fair and balanced analysis: a gap that we believe the Al Mirbad news site will help to fill and serve to raise the standard of online journalism in the area by becoming the go-to site for news in Iraq’s south.

The website that �� Media Action has developed with Al Mirbad is specifically tailored to its southern audience, using a more everyday vernacular for its headings than its competitors, and this appears to have gone down well with visitors to the site. Users can also select news from their individual provinces and stream Al Mirbad’s programming. It was important for the project team to ensure that the website would be well-integrated with social media, through the use of plugins (to place comments on the site) and a simultaneous presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Again, social networking sites such as Facebook have a lesser penetration rate in Iraq than neighbouring countries, but their usage is rising sharply. Facebook now has just under 1.8 million users in the country, but nearly half a million of these signed up in the last six months. Al Mirbad hopes to stay ahead of the curve.

It is too soon to fully assess the effectiveness of the new site, but the early signs are encouraging. On its seventh anniversary, Al Mirbad continues to head in the right direction. In an uncertain political environment where the freedom of the press is under increasing threat from government interference, Al Mirbad’s work is as vital as ever.

Related links

Al Mirbad

Elsewhere on �� Media Action: Supporting media in southern Iraq: Radio Al Mirbad

�������� Media Action Feed

COVID-19 in Iraq: How public interest media can save lives

Lifeline radio for displaced Iraqis

A step backwards: media in today's Iraq

Coming home for the first time

Radio Al Mirbad seven years on

�� Media Action Feed