Funferal

Iraq to block news channels?

Another from Interworld Radio:

Iraq’s governing council wants to ban two major Arabic television news channels. The council says al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya have incited violence by showing pictures of masked men demanding Iraqis attack occupying forces. It is thought that council members voted to expel journalists from the stations for a month. The US civilian administrator in Iraq must approve the decision before any action is taken.

Interesting that may of the potential legal developments in Iraq would be unacceptable in the US, the occupying power. I’m reminded of the move to make every sector, other than oil, open to foreign ownership. Of course, in the US there are restrictions on ownership of, for example, television networks. So the US are ensuring the implementation of policies that would be unacceptable at home. In consequence, they can use Iraq and others to apply veiled pressure through WTO etc, to force the changes to happen at home later. Now, here we have the possibility of news channels being blocked because there content doesn’t suit the governing power.
Of course, we need to see whether the US do actually allow the change to happen (and of course, it could be seen as a Catch-22, where the US can block a decision of the Council, or back censorship. Though since they appointed the Council to do their bidding, I have little sympathy.)