Media outlets in Iraq have undoubtedly turned into platforms for marketing and propaganda, despite their claims of objectivity. The political authorities have been using the media widely, sometimes transforming it from a “fourth estate” into a medium for state propaganda. This is common in countries that do not have serious laws to protect the freedom of access to information. As a result, independent media outlets are either not allowed to give objective media coverage, or they become rumor mongers, as there is no way for them to get accurate information.

The big picture in Iraq is complex in this regard. Articles on Iraq speak of high rates of killing and persecution of journalists, a weak and useless law protecting journalists, a lack of access to information and an intensive propaganda war.

The latest and worst yet example of the threat to media freedom occurred when the editor-in-chief of the Iraqi newspaper Al Sabah Al Jadid apologized to the Iranian ambassador to Iraq for publishing a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Despite the apology, radical Shiite militias threatened the newspaper, and then a bomb was detonated at its headquarters, leading to its temporary shutdown. Al Sabah Al Jadid had published portraits of other Iraqi clerics in the past such as Sayed Abdel Aziz Hakim, Sayed Hussein al-Sadr and Sayed Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum without causing any hubbub. Iraqi civil society supporters were infuriated, and considered it the end of the minimal freedom and independence enjoyed by Iraq.

As far as media blackouts go, the Anbar operations persist in vague and unknown circumstances. Both sides of the conflict have been spreading conflicting news in which they appear victorious over their criminal adversaries.