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CounterPunch
February
1, 2003
Live from Baghdad
Fox
News: The Network America Trusts (to pay Saddam)
by JEREMY SCAHILL
BAGHDAD. The sat phones are lined up. The tents are in
place. Dozens of languages fill the smoke filled atrium. Every
kind of technical equipment imaginable is scattered about. The
scene almost resembles an eerie version of the quick set up for
a heavy metal concert. Welcome to the Press Center on the ground
floor of the Iraqi Ministry of Information.
Over the last several weeks, low-paid
Iraqi construction workers have rubbed elbows with journalists
from CNN, BBC, The New York Times and a slew of other media outlets.
The workers are halfway through a sizable construction project
to expand the Press Center to accommodate the influx of the proverbial
herds waiting for the war.
Inside the building, tiny 6' x 6' cubicles
are now the hottest real estate on the Baghdad market. Officially,
the space will cost you $500 a month. But space is limited and
cash is flowing from the pockets of the major networks to Iraqi
officials and the government to ensure access once the bombs
start flying.
But it is not just the cubicles. Under
the government guidelines, journalists cough up a handsome sum
of money to the government and individual officials. Here are
the bare minimums for journalists operating in Baghdad:
--$100/ day fee per journalist, cameraperson,
technical staff etc.
--$150/ day fee for permission to use
a satellite telephone (which the journalists have to provide
themselves)
--$50-100/ day for a mandatory government
escort
--$50-100/ day for a car and driver (some
networks have a fleet of vehicles)
--$75/ day for a room at the Al Rashid
Hotel
That's already $500 and that doesn't
include the thousands of dollars daily for each direct live satellite
feed for TV networks. Nor does it include the bribes and "tips"
shelled out left and right. Nor does it include the money handed
over at border crossings and the airport. The networks don't
like to talk about how much they actually spend, but one veteran
of the media scene here estimated the cost for a major TV network
at about $100,000 a month. Others say that is a low estimate.
Almost all of this cash (except a few "tips" here and
there) goes directly to the Iraqi government. Once you add up
the bill for the TV networks alone, we're talking perhaps millions
of dollars in revenue a month for the government.
There is a joke here that the major media
outlets are now competing with oil smuggling as the number one
money-maker for the Iraqi government. It is particularly ironic
that while Rupert Murdoch's "troops" from FOX News
Network rally for the war, dismissing antiwar activists as dupes
of the Iraqi regime, the "network America trusts" is
paying "Saddam" (as they refer to Iraq) hand over fist
tens of thousands of dollars every month. But stroll down the
halls of the press center and you'll see that Rupert's troops
have multiple battalions. He also owns Sky News (the British
version of FOX), as well as the Times of London. A bit of research
would probably find that Murdoch owns other publications operating
here as well.
FOX News reporters (and others as well)
like to say "for the benefit of the viewers" that their
broadcasts are being monitored by the Iraqi government. Fair
enough. But perhaps the Murdoch Empire should begin each of its
reports or dispatches from Baghdad by disclosing how much money
they paid "Saddam" today.
Jeremy Scahill
is an independent journalist, who reports for the nationally
syndicated Radio and TV show Democracy Now! He is currently based
in Baghdad, Iraq, where he and filmmaker Jacquie Soohen are coordinating
Iraqjournal.org, the only
website providing regular independent reporting from the ground
in Baghdad.
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