A quick look at the virtual space Iraqi media occupies on the Internet will reveal a remarkably accurate representation of the country's various news outlets. The many television channels which started broadcasting after the fall of the Baathist regime and the tens of newspapers which have sprung up over the last number of years have quickly claimed their own space on the World Wide Web, as have many other "new media" websites - various forums, blogs and online news providers. What makes this speedy development in Iraqi online presence extraordinary is the fact that Internet usage and penetration in Iraq is actually quite low. The most upbeat reports put usage at 1.77%. That amounts to less than half-a-million users in a country of about twenty-seven million citizens.
We all are conscious of the potential there, and the buzz around online media is growing louder. Even though we are aware of low levels of access, newspapers are continuing to update their sites, television websites are putting up web-exclusives, and bloggers are publishing new posts. Having lived in a country which limited access to information for so long, we all feel a sense of excitement about the fact that, today, information is available to us at the click of a button. This new freedom is arguably one of the few clearly positive improvements to our daily lives in Iraq, and it is important that the government and civil society maintain and encourage this access.
In order to understand the importance of the Internet, we must first differentiate between two types of socially and politically significant online presences. The first is the presence of the more traditional forms of media, and the second is based on the personal initiative of individuals - whether in the form of blogs or online forums - and websites representing various civil society organizations. Each has its own motivation and requires a different form of encouragement and support.
Traditional media has gone online in order to meet market demands. News and information are, after all, a commodity in this day and age, and even a state broadcaster like the Iraqi Media Net, with secured financial resources, cannot afford online absence. Due to low Internet usage rates, however, these websites remain mere sketches on the virtual landscape, instead of being full informational portals; many of them suffer from bad design and poor content, and means of public participation on these websites are basic, if at all available.
Despite some shortcomings, however, it would be a mistake to give up on those websites. The newspapers and television channels which choose to provide content online are creating an archive for future reference, which only organizations with enough financial resources and staffing can afford to offer at the moment. Funded by the market, and sometimes by governments, they are building up a slow but steady accumulation of factual information and documents which will prove invaluable for posterity.
Although the presence of traditional media online is of great importance, the contributions made by individuals and national civil society organizations are even more exciting and significant when it comes to creating space for discussion and dialogue online.
Internet connectivity is of special significance to civil society. Computer networks greatly facilitate small group participation at all levels - within groups, between groups, and between groups and their representatives. Many NGOs, including human rights organizations, have embraced the Internet as a means of exchanging, collecting, and disseminating information quickly and cheaply.
For countries with little or no formal democratic institutions, the Internet has helped create an understanding for how democratic and participatory politics function by providing a way for even the smallest of interest groups to voice their opinions and concerns.
In Iraq we see this in the proliferation of forum-like websites which provide news, and function as gathering points for various ethnic or religious groups. Websites like Iraqi League provide focal points - even if sometimes extreme - for the wishes, concerns and even fears of those ethnic and religious factions. News gathering is seen as a collective task on these websites, and, in times of potential crisis, they function as advice-lines. The BBC's website reported in February of this year on how the Iraqi League website was advising residents of certain Baghdad districts on the movements of militia groups and which roads to avoid. This, in fact, is a very sophisticated use of the medium, especially considering how recently access has become available in Iraq.
We also see a number of Iraqi Internet users rapidly embracing the idea of blogging, or what has been described as "citizen journalism". Iraq Blog Count, a website attempting to provide a comprehensive list of Iraqi blogs, links to more than 250 blogs, around 140 of which are active. Although earlier bloggers were posting in English, many new bloggers are writing in Arabic and Kurdish.
The debate about whether these bloggers provide any original reporting, or if they only provide us with opinions, is one that is still ongoing. The value of this form of online presence, however, does not only lie in the news it provides, but also in the texture and context which it adds to traditional news reporting.
An excellent example of how blogging supplements traditional reporting and how it has enriched the budding culture of free speech in Iraq could be seen in the various postings on Iraqi blogsites during the period prior to the referendum on the new Iraqi constitution in 2005. The various drafts were discussed by a number of Iraqi bloggers. Riverbend of Baghdad Burning wrote two long postings from her point of view as a young Iraqi woman. Others provided English language translations of drafts as soon as they had been leaked to various local newspapers, and the Kurdistan Bloggers Union reported on a discussion group looking at the constitution from a Kurdish point of view. These postings served as snapshots of public opinion. They were personal, passionate and opinionated, and helped to bring the human aspect into greater relief, alongside the legal process of drafting up a constitution. This is what makes blogging such an exciting form of communication.
In addition to voicing opinions, bloggers across Iraq were also building up a virtual latticework of links and references, connecting traditional media websites and other blogs around the world, which reported or discussed the constitution. Due to this cross-linking, a search across the Iraqi blogosphere for postings about the constitution will not only take you on a tour of Iraqi public opinion from that time, but will also give you access to related articles from national and international media sources.
Posting on a blog or a forum is also immensely valuable to the individual, as access to these outlets provides contributors with a sense of empowerment. For many of us bloggers and online writers, the act of blogging itself is like breathing a breath of fresh air. We were raised in a political environment which thrived on fear; the fear to express opinions was instilled in us from an early age, with hundreds of stories about people who had "disappeared" after expressing dissent or unapproved opinions. It is very sad to see that this fear has not yet disappeared. Today, however, we do have channels for dissent, even if anonymous, on blogs and forums. It is almost like having to learn a new language, and a new method of fearless critical thinking, and these online discussion spaces are our practicing grounds. One can only hope that what has started as political involvement in an online discussion forum will translate into action offline, and ultimately motivate a new generation to become involved, not only in the political discussion but also in shaping the very policies covered. One notable example of this in the Iraqi blogosphere is the weblog Iraq the Model, and the decision taken by the bloggers who contribute to that weblog to run for office in the Iraqi elections.
The fact remains, however, that political and social activism online in Iraq is still very low. Development of this sort of engagement in current issues and affairs depends on the amount of Internet access available to the general public. Even in the more institutionalized sector, i.e. traditional media, further refinement of the services and products offered is dependent upon the number of people using those products.
Growth in Internet penetration and usage in Iraqi society is very encouraging, but governments and NGOs need to make sure that this momentum is maintained, and that "pro-Internet" forces within governments, businesses, the IT sector, and academic and research communities, all wanting to stay current and globally competitive, must continue to push for easier and more wide-spread access to online data and communications.
Electronic communication and the Internet have changed the social and political landscape of our world. Through e-mail and websites, human rights organizations, for example, are able to disseminate information far more effectively than ever before, despite modest resources and limited access to local media in some countries. Governments in non-democratic countries can no longer retain total control over the information accessible to citizens. We all hope that legislators setting down future Iraqi laws for electronic forms of media and communication will realize how important it is that free and uncensored access will be secured for all of us, as this technology promises to be of great importance to our development, prosperity and emergence as a part of the global community.
Salam Pax is an Iraqi blogger and documentary filmmaker. In 2003 Atlantic Books published a book based on his blog "Where is Raed?" under the title The Baghdad Blog. He also worked as a journalist for "The Guardian", writing both columns and featured articles. A series of reports filmed by Salam Pax in 2004 and transmitted by the BBC's Newsnight won the Royal Television Society Award for Innovation. He continued to make a total of eighteen reports about life in Baghdad.
