[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[HCDX] Sunni, Shia launch new radio station in Iraq
Sunni, Shia launch new radio station in Iraq
Anne Gearan
The Associated Press
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=3e959081
-b96c-4d51-b8dc-0315680eae17
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Staff of Iraq's newly formed Independent Radio and Television Network
(IRTN) direct the station's first live television newscast at a media
centre near Buhriz, about 60 km northeast of Baghdad on March 25.
Using jumper cables and a 12-volt battery, plus financial backing and
technical help from the United States, Sunnis and Shiites are
broadcasting with one voice in Iraq.
A makeshift radio and television station went on the air last month in
Baqouba with a refurbished transmitter lashed onto the top of a radio
tower originally built by Saddam Hussein to broadcast Baathist
propaganda into Iran and Syria.
The young staff -- two Sunni and two Shiite Muslims -- work together to
produce a menu of Arabic news, public affairs and entertainment
programming, a collaboration that would not have seemed remarkable
before Iraq's sectarian divisions hardened into tit-for-tat killings last
year.
Now, however, the project puts the staff members at risk, both because
of their co-operation with one another and their affiliation with U.S.
forces and the State Department.
The U.S. military spent $36,000 US to fix the transmitter and generator
for the station, which broadcasts across Baghdad and into other areas
where sectarian killings and kidnappings have become common.
Baqouba has become one of the most violent places in Iraq, with its
surrounding area a battleground between "al-Qaida in Iraq" and Shiite
militants loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
"It seems the government is not able to help ... in making reconciliation
between Sunnis and Shia, so what I think is, our voice will be strong
and helpful for all our people," independent Iraq Radio and Television
Network co-founder Samir Kamies said in an e-mail interview in
English.
NETWORK IS INDEPENDENT
Despite its sponsorship, the network is independent of the U.S.
government and the Iraqi government, its Iraqi employees and U.S.
benefactors said. Unlike better-known U.S. projects, such as Cuban-
themed Radio Marti or the Cold War-era Radio Free Europe, the Iraq
network is not produced by the U.S. government, although the State
Department provided technical and programming help.
"It is not run by the government of Iraq, the provincial government or
the mosques," State Department spokeswoman Susan Phalen said.
"The Iraqi broadcasters alone determine the programming and design
the production, with State Department advice and training."
The U.S. government hopes the network's mere existence will be an
advertisement for stability and reconciliation, the political goals set by
U.S. President George W. Bush before U.S. forces can begin
withdrawing from Iraq.
The network also is meant to show the value of a free and independent
press, although there is more frank and critical coverage of Iraq's
troubles and the role of the United States to be found elsewhere in
Iraq's emerging media. The network's general interest programming is
heavier on consumer news and mild-mannered chat shows than
politics.
A 28-year old Sunni, Kamies produces an agriculture show for the
network. He counts IRTN co-founder and general manager Rafed
Mahmood, a Shiite, as his best friend.
Among the network's other offerings is an earnest talk show called
"Common Ground" that features the station's mixed staff talking,
laughing, drinking tea and dancing together. The first episode featured
a Sunni-Shiite soccer match.
"The risks are everywhere," Kamies said.
"The insurgents do not want anything good to go in our country and
they target everybody in our country."
http://zlgr.multiply.com (raidio monitoring site plus audio clips )
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/302315/ (Litohoro) 321199/Tinos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachgr pictures upload
.
on my main : www.geocities.com/zliangas
-tty-px.html : test of various TTY programs
-ethics.htm : greek ethics , days and institutions
-frape.htm: the greek way of cofee !!!
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece
greekdx @ otenet dot gr ---
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop
---[Start Commercial]---------------------
Preorder your WRTH 2007:
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2007
---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________
THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html