What’s on the Iraqi websites….? Alsumaria.com, Kurdmedia. com, Aswat Aliraq.com, Azzaman.com
Considering the toxic relationship Iraq and U.S. share, one might expect Iraqi’s to be curious about the next president who calls the shots on their future.
From the English language news websites, I’ve been monitoring, it appears that the Iraqi media isn’t falling over to cover the presidential race but a random article with an Iraq angle does pop up occasionally.
Alsumaria is an independent Iraqi Satellite TV Network that operates from Lebanon. Its basically covers “Iraq news” but there is a “world news” section as well, which has broad coverage on international stories.
On Monday, a day before Super Duper Tuesday, the “world news” section was dominated by reports from Iran, Chad, Kenya, Palestine, Egypt and a small unexciting update about the U.S. primary.
Then, on Tuesday night, as John McCain was savoring his first victories, the website had a write-up on him as the most likely to win the Republican Party candidacy and his Iraq agenda.
“McCain, who had previously said the US presence in Iraq could last 100 years, said that the main reason he is running for President is because of the transcendent challenge of the 21st century which is radical Islamic extremism.”
Another website, Kurdmedia. com, which hardly had any past coverage on the presidential nominations, carried a piece on Hilary Clinton with a Turkey twist on Tuesday night.
“Hillary Clinton has recently employed Mehmet Celebi, a Turkish ultra-nationalist – as one of her delegates for her campaign for President of the United States.”
However, websites like Aswat Aliraq reported the usual Iraq news, “US army launches wide-scale operation in Northern Baghdad,” and in the sports news, “Iraqi midfielder Nashaat Akram’s move to British Premier League club Manchester City failed because it contradicts with the regulations set by the British Football Association.”
Neither Aswat Aliraq nor Azzaman.com, another Iraqi website, reported on Super Duper Tuesday.
Why the Iraqis don’t care YET
Journalists who have worked in Iraq are not surprised by the lack of interest. According to Abdulla Mizead, an Iraqi journalist, who is presently studying journalism at Columbia University, the presidential elections in Iraq are insignificant.
“Most Iraqi, friends of mine, and colleague journalists don’t care that much. Most of them view Demos and Repub. as essentially the same when it comes to foreign policy.”
And this attitude stems from the indifference of their readers, says Mizead.
“A lot of Iraqis are sucked into their daily life in trying to stay alive, and even if there were some who cared about watching the coverage of the elections won’t be able because of the electricity blackouts. They’d rather go wait in line to get gas or oil for heating rather than sit and watch a translated version of the Obama-Clinton debate.”
But the Iraqi’s are getting election news, from the bigger pan Arabic media outlets like Al Jazeera and Alarabiya, which are taking the names like Clinton, Obama, McCain and their Iraq-centric polices into many homes in the Middle East.
But Al-Jazeera, has a different playing field than the local Iraqi media outlets. It’s competing with the big boys like CNN and BBC. This trend can be seen in India as well, where news channels like CNN-IBN and NDTV are covering the presidential race very closely, even if there is a disconnect between the news and the audience.
It’s too complicated anyway….
One reason for the current state of indifference is because the nominations are still baby steps towards choosing the next president. Bobby Ghosh, the Baghdad Bureau Chief of Time Magazine for the past five years, says that Iraqi interest will spark when it comes down to two candidates with opposing views on Iraq, like Obama and McCain.
“Right now it’s all too vague for them.”
Jamez Glanz who is currently the Baghdad Bureau Chief for The New York Times, also says that Iraqi’s will “pay attention” when it’s time for the final decision. “This was true in the second Bush election, for example, and the appointment of General Petraeus to the top commander spot.”
Another reason for the lack of interest in Super Duper Tuesday, according to Glanz, is because the Iraqi’s simply don’t relate to the whole Super Duper Tuesday deal.
“There are lots of reasons that they don’t follow every twist and turn, one being that they don’t know all the players and — despite their Iraqi-style elections –the democratic process is still mostly foreign to them.”
