Albany Associates was commissioned to draft a report to coincide with the recognition of World Press Freedom Day in Iraq and elsewhere around the world on 3rd May 2009 as part of a UNDP/UNESCO project for media development in Iraq. The report—which will be published in English, Arabic and Kurdish in coming weeks—is designed to provide a snapshot of what the legal and regulatory landscape for media and communications looks like today and to preview changes that may be in store for the future. It sets out recommendations and analysis concerning current and planned legislation, and other aspects of the regulatory environment for communications.
In early 2007, we examined the legal and regulatory framework for communications in Iraq for a report published by the Center for Global Communication Studies of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. When that report was published, the framework that had been in place since 2004, with an independent regulator for communications (the Communications and Media Commission of Iraq, or the CMC), appeared to be generally accepted by the Iraqi political establishment, broadcasters and telecommunications operators. This was confirmed in November 2007, when, at a UNESCO, UNDP and CMC sponsored workshop run by Albany Associates in Amman, Iraqi government officials and media professionals pledged support for independent regulation of media and communications and for the continued existence of the CMC. Concerns appeared to be focused on how to improve established institutions, including the CMC and Iraq’s public service broadcast network, the Iraq Media Network.
Several months after that report was published, telecommunications licenses were issued through a public, transparent auction that was planned and administered by the CMC in cooperation with a committee of government ministers. Three mobile operators, serving ten million Iraqis, were awarded licenses in exchange for billions of dollars in revenue that will come into the Iraqi treasury over the terms of the licenses.
The situation changed soon thereafter. The CMC’s chief executive left his post when his term expired in April 2008. As the government has made no move to fill vacant CMC Board positions, the Board lacks the quorum necessary to make key decisions, including the replacement of the CEO. As a result, the organization is effectively paralysed. During this time, attempts have been made to strip the CMC of various aspects of its regulatory remit.
As discussed in the upcoming report, now is a time of enormous legislative and institutional change for communications in Iraq. The entire legal and regulatory framework is in flux. New laws are being proposed that would pull all aspects of communications regulation back into the government, would abolish or significantly diminish the CMC, and would give the government a monopoly over key aspects of communications infrastructure. It is also understood that the government is considering granting a fourth mobile telecommunications license to the Ministry of Communications without a competitive auction. And, there is even talk of providing the Iraqi Media Network (currently designed to be a public service broadcast network independent of the government) with regulatory control over private media. These moves would effectively re-establish the Ministry of Information that was abolished in 2003.
As mentioned above, the aims of the report include both reporting on what the legal and regulatory framework for communications looks like today, and advocating for ways to improve it. In general terms, we advocate in the publication for a strong independent, converged regulator, in the form of the CMC, both to protect broadcasters from government influence and guarantee the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, and to provide for efficient, consistent and transparent national management of spectrum, bandwidth and other communications infrastructure. The CMC’s nationwide remit should be recognized in the Kurdish Region, where spectrum management is currently under the purview of private companies in Erbil and Suleiymanieh. Mobile telephony and other telecommunications have the capacity to bring vast resources into the Iraqi treasury, and licensing and regulation of these industries by an independent regulator will lead to increased revenues. We also argue for an independent public service broadcaster that acts in the public interest. We further advocate for a printed press and Internet free of regulation and for the further development of self-regulatory mechanisms to encourage professional responsibility on these media.
Most experts would agree that moving from a converged independent regulator—as Iraq currently has in the form of the CMC—to government control of the communications sector would represent a giant step backward. No established or developing democracy is going in this direction.
Indeed, many societies, including a number of Iraq’s immediate and regional neighbours, are making significant efforts to move toward independent regulation, in recognition of the advantages that an independent framework has in promoting freedom of expression and bringing investment to the communications sector. Additionally, as communications platforms have merged, with, for example, broadcast content becoming available on mobile phones, countries around the world and in the region are moving toward, not away from, converged regulation of communications, bringing licensing and regulation of telecommunications, broadcasting and radio frequency spectrum under one roof.
Only time will tell which course Iraqi leaders will choose as the various draft laws described in this report are considered. Whatever the future holds, however, any steps to change the independent regulatory framework that has been in place in Iraq since 2004 should be taken with great care, and only after significant consultation with stakeholders.
Douglas Griffin, Director, Albany Associates