Between Iraq and a Hard Place

In Iraq, "the various factions seem to want everyone - including the press - to choose sides," writes Columbia Journalism Review. "The Arab media are finding themselves increasingly reliant on secondhand accounts and official reports from Washington and Baghdad," especially after Iraq's Media High Commission and interim government barred Al Jazeera, and Al Arabiya reduced their Iraq presence, due to increasing violence. Threats or missiles have shaken the Azzaman, Al-Itijah al-Akhar, and Al Mada newspapers. And "eighteen of the twenty-three journalists killed in Iraq last year - and all of the sixteen slain media-support workers - were Arabs or Kurds."