Iranian Campaign Setting a Price on Iraqi Journalism

Several Iraqi journalists revealed that Iranians have been making several calls, in aim to promote Iranian policy in Iraq and across the region, while working on enhancing Iran’s image and its actions in Iraq. Journalists also reported that Iranians are secretly offering financial support to media institutions and journalists to endorse Iranian policy.

Journalists have refused to reveal the names of those collaborating nor the institutions they are affiliated with, but they have told Asharq Al-Awsat –Baghdad on Tuesday, that there is almost an “organized campaign the Iranian embassy is running in Baghdad alongside Iraqis that are proving loyal to Iran, in which they have offered some Iraqi journalists extravagant amounts of money in return for improving Iran’s image and its actions in Iraq and the region”

“They have asked the journalists to endorse the importance of the role Iran is playing in the suit of maintaining security in Iraq, the fight against ISIS, alongside the economic support. Iranians have asked the journalists to promote Iranian policies through writing articles and journalistic investigations” media sources added.

Despite that some have taken up the offer on Iranian money, the majority chose to refuse the proposal after agreeing on the destructive nature of the Iranian role in Iraq.

An Iraqi journalist working for a local publication said “I later on discovered that there are other people who have contacted my colleagues, whether they were Shiite or Sunnis, for the same purpose. They are taking advantage of the difficult economy Iraq is suffering”.

“One of the Iraqi journalists who work for a news station has already pointed out similar cases happening, considering that there are Iraqi journalists that have promoted American policy for a certain price” the journalist added.