Fast Facts Language: Arabic Established: 1998 Distribution: Radio (FM, AM, satellite), Internet Coverage: 17 hours daily Locations: Prague, Baghdad Staff: 12 in Prague, 38 stringers in Baghdad and major Iraqi cities

Media Environment

• Freedom House Freedom of the Press Index 2012: Not Free (155th/197)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2011: 152nd/179
• Security concerns and government policies continued to challenge the development of a free press in Iraq. Journalists are targets for their views and face threats, arrests and violence.

Highlights

• RFI consistently leads local media in live coverage of important events such as local and national elections and protests. RFI also reports on cultural and social issues other Iraqi media often ignore, such as discrimination, honor killings, domestic violence and corruption.
• Three Radio Free Iraq stories on victims of violence and mistreatment were reprinted in a local magazine in January 2012, where they attracted the interest of an official from Iraq’s Cabinet of Ministers who pledged to offer assistance.
• Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari visited Radio Free Iraq’s offices in Prague in April 2011 and stated that he and his Iraqi Cabinet colleagues listen to RFI and discuss programs in their meetings.
• Iraqis serving a sentence in a prison in Saudi Arabia contacted RFI correspondents via smuggled phones and described the conditions in the jail. RFI reported the story, prompting Iraqi authorities to negotiate with their Saudi counterparts. Consequently, some detainees were released and files of others have been put under review.
• In October 2010, Radio Free Iraq received a “Certificate of Honor” from the Cultural Counselor for the Basra Governorate for promoting democratic principles.

updated: 9 May 2012

Population
33 million (World Bank estimate, 2011)

Most Common Languages:
Arabic, Kurdish, Turkoman, Assyrian, Armenian

Press Freedom Index (Freedom House):
Not Free, ranked 145 out of 196 (2010)

Press Freedom Index (RSF):
152 out of 179 (2011/2012)

Corruption Index (Transparency Int.):
175 out of 183 (2011)

Global Peace Index (IES):
156 out of 159 (2012)

Human Rights Watch:
Report on Iraq (2012)

Amnesty International:
Iraq Report (2012)