Changes

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq, which later became the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]], created the Iraqi Media Network. The original network contract -- which encompassed eight contracts totaling $108.2 million -- was given to San Diego-based [[Science Applications International Corporation]] in March 2003 by the [[Defense Contracting Command]]. The network was to be constructed out of the infrastructure of Saddam Hussein's state-run news network to become a "world-class" media operation, including a 24-7 satellite channel, two land-based TV channels, two radio channels, a national newspaper, and TV and film studios in every major region of Iraq. During its initial operation, IMN's $100 million budget, which was part of the $87.5 billion appropriations bil signed in November 2003, comes from Special Operations and [[low intensity conflict|Low-Intensity Conflict]], a division of the Defense Department that handles psy-ops. [http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0346/cotts.php]

News reports of that IMN faced credibility issues and was too closely associated with the CPA became came to appear in the fall of 2003. As early as June 2003, the CPA was engaging in censoring Iraqi media, issuing "guidelines" for all media outlets in Iraq, forbidding them from inciting violence or opposition to the occupation authority. "Occasionally, U.S. soldiers have raided newspaper offices deemed to be in breach of the regulations.... But the delicacy of sending heavily armed troops to enforce media rules has prompted the occupation officials to look for other ways to exercise their power to censor," the Washington Post reported in August 2003.[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w...anguage=printer]

Several seasoned journalist journalists were reported to have quit the IMN out of frustration with CPA oversight. "Critics say the network's mission is weakened by its contradictory goals. So far IMN is touted as both the voice of an occupying military force and an inspiration for Iraqis to produce fair and balanced news coverage. But many Iraqis have already dubbed the network a propaganda organ. (As if to underscore that impression, IMN recently ran a speech by CPA administrator Paul Bremer in which he spoke repeatedly of Hussein as 'the evil one,')" the Village Voice's Cynthia Cotts reported in November 2003.[http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0346/cotts.php] Don North, former senior TV advisor to the IMN, went on record criticizing the CPA's use of the network. "It became a conduit for information from CPA, from Ambassador Bremer. I have no problem with CPA explaining themselves to the Iraqi people," North told NPR's "On the Media." "But not to the detriment of a station that was formed for the Iraqis. Credibility with a radio or TV station is a very fragile commodity, and unfortunately after two or three months, they had destroyed this credibility that I think we started out with."[http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_101703_network.html]