Mitigating the Impact of Media Reporting of Terrorism: Iraq case study Mais Al-Bayaa This project is funded by the European Union i Mitigating the Impact of Media Reporting of Terrorism: Iraq case study Mais Al-Bayaa Strategic Communications Project Report January 2021 This report is part of a wider project, led by the International Centre for Counter- Terrorism (ICCT) – the Hague, and funded by the EU Devco on “Mitigating the Impact of Media Reporting of Terrorism”. This project aims to produce evidence-based guidance and capacity building outputs based on original, context-sensitive research into the risks and opportunities in media reporting of terrorism and terrorist incidents. The role of media reporting on terrorism has been under investigated and is an underutilised dimension of a holistic counter-terrorism strategy. How the media reports on terrorism has the potential to impact counter-terrorism (CT) perspective positively or negatively. Funded by the European Union ii About ICCT The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT) is an independent think and do tank providing multidisciplinary policy advice and practical, solution-oriented implementation support on prevention and the rule of law, two vital pillars of effective counter- terrorism. ICCT’s work focuses on themes at the intersection of countering violent extremism and criminal justice sector responses, as well as human rights-related aspects of counter-terrorism. The major project areas concern countering violent extremism, rule of law, foreign fighters, country and regional analysis, rehabilitation, civil society engagement and victims’ voices. Functioning as a nucleus within the international counter-terrorism network, ICCT connects experts, policymakers, civil society actors and practitioners from different fields by providing a platform for productive collaboration, practical analysis, and exchange of experiences and expertise, with the ultimate aim of identifying innovative and comprehensive approaches to preventing and countering terrorism. Licensing and Distribution ICCT publications are published in open access format and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives License, which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. Cover image: Marco Zoppi for Upsplash, available here. ICCT Report January 2021 DOI: 10.19165/2021.1.01 ISSN: 2468-0486 iii Contents Key Findings 1 Introduction 2 Satellite television in Iraq 2 Reporting on terrorism and insurgency in Iraq 4 Case study: the battles for Fallujah 7 Covering the rise of the Islamic State group 8 Conclusion 9 Recommendations 10 Appendix: Table of Interviews 11 Bibliography 12 About the Author 14 iv Key Findings Key Findings • The influence of the Pan Arab Television stations on Iraqi journalists impacted the way they covered the stories for local television stations. • The impact of those channels reshaped the local media and the way Iraqis look at news coverage. • The influence of those channels on how local journalists and editors cover terror attachs and their aftermath. • The lessons learnt from covering terror events in Iraq are highlighted here, with the potential to be used in analysis on other Arab countries. 1 Introduction This paper analyses Al-Jazeera and Al- Introduction Arabiya’s coverage of terrorism in Iraq from 2003 to the present. Primary sources for this During Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq had research were examples of television reports only two terrestrial television stations, both on terrorist incidents and threats, and interviews run by the government. Their content was with key informants. Where appropriate, links heavily censored and the government tightly to news reports have been given in order to controlled what Iraqi citizens could see. further understand any conclusions or analysis Moreover, the majority of Iraqis did not have given. Interviews were conducted with ten access to satellite channels and most were respondents, including six local journalists and banned from travelling outside the country. Iraq two political and terrorism experts all working was also largely closed off from the outside in four areas particularly affected by terrorism: world in terms of news and information. State Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Baghdad. This paper control of the information ecosystem was part also draws upon the author’s own experience of a totalitarian system that encompassed the of working for international media outlets in whole of Iraqi society – there was no freedom Iraq and for an American non-governmental of expression, and severe penalties for those organisation in Iraq which provided media who digressed from the government line. training to local journalists after 2003. In the days after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, in Iraqi cities trucks loaded with satellite dishes were a common sight, Satellite television in Iraq and before long, a satellite could be seen on almost every roof in Iraq’s cities. A year Al-Jazeera’s reach is expansive. The channel later, twenty-one new national channels were claims that it reaches to more than 220 beaming across the country, and there were million households in more than one hundred 150 independent newspapers and eighty countries and its YouTube channel receives 1 radio stations . Business, political and religious 2.5 million views per month.4 A survey by BBC leaders all scrambled to harness the power of Media Action in May 2018 in Iraq showed the the media, with many elite figures opening their media consumption habits – 44 percent of the own new channels. But despite this vibrant – population in four provinces (Anbar, Ninewa, or chaotic – media landscape, the Gulf-based Baghdad and Salahulddin) used social media satellite channels, Al-Jazeera (based in Qatar to obtain their breaking news, while 56 percent and funded by the Qatari government) and Al- watch breaking news on television.5 Arabiya (based in Dubai but close to, and now part-owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), The actions of the Coalition Provisional Authority 2, 3 attracted large audiences’. (CPA) after the United States-led invasion helped create an environment which the Gulf-based satellite channels could dominate. The CPA abolished the Iraqi Ministry of Information6 in 1 BBC media action, The media of Iraq ten years on: the problems, the progress, the prospect. Policy Briefing, March 2013. Available at: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/policybriefing/bbc_media_action_media_iraq_ten_years_on.pdf, accessed 20 December 2019 2 Ipsos.com, Online audience measurement in The Arab World, 2 September 2013. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ en/online-audience-measurement-arab-world, accessed: 10 January 2020. 3 Al-Jazeera was founded in 1996 with funding from the Qatari government. Al-Arabiya is owned by MBC (the Middle East Broadcasting Center), the region’s largest private satellite broadcaster, which was founded in 1991 by the Saudi businessman Walid al Ibrahim, brother-in-law of the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. King Fahd’s son is reportedly a major shareholder. Al Ibrahim was among those placed under effective arrest in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2017. Following his release, the Saudi government took a 60 percent stake in MBC, leaving Al Ibrahim with the remaining 40 percent. 4 Al-Jazeera, “Facts and figures,” 23 February, 2012. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/2/23/facts-and- figures, accessed: 28 December 2019 5 BBC Media Action, Middle East and North Africa: Iraq. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/where-we-work/ middle-east-and-north-africa/iraq, accessed: 20 December 2019 6 Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2: Dissolution of Entities, 23 May 2003. Available at: https://web.archive. 2 Satellite television in Iraq 2003 and dismissed thousands of employees, station, but it was not a competitor considering them unreliable. The CPA sought because it had a more western approach to build a new media landscape through post- to a closed society. The new generation of conflict programmes to train Iraqi journalists Iraqi journalists was left to choose which delivered by USAID-funded organisations. Arab or international media outlet to follow These programmes provided technical and as the popularity of Al-Jazeera and Al- guidance, logistical support, media monitoring Arabiya were peaking, this led editors to and advice.7 A new television channel, Al- choose these channels as guideline for Hurra (literally “the free woman” in Arabic) was journalism.8 launched by the US in February 2004, covering the whole of the Middle East/North Africa with Despite its popularity among the Iraqi public, a slogan which translates as “the truth first.” Al-Jazeera has been criticised by Iraq’s post- Al-Hurra Iraq was launched in April 2004. Its 2003 leaders. Prime Ministers Ayad Allawi, global viewing figures make it the third most- Noori Al-Maliki and Haidar Al-Abadi are all watched Arabic-language satellite channel, but known to have condemned what they see in global audiences it lags a long way behind as the channel’s biased reporting, favouring Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. In Iraq, after so Qatari foreign policy interests. A leaked many years of exposure to a monolithic, state- US diplomatic cable in 2010 revealed that, controlled media, Iraqis appeared reluctant to contrary to Al Jazeera’s insistence of being accept the