Baghdad
The interim Iraqi government closed the Iraq offices of the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera this week, saying the network was inciting violence. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Al-Jazeera’s airing of graphic images of casualties, along with its broadcasting of kidnappers’ videotapes of hostages, encouraged terrorism. The government may allow the network to resume operations in a month, Allawi said, if its coverage by then has “improved.” Iraqis can still watch Al-Jazeera, which is available via satellite, but its journalists cannot broadcast from the country. The journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders called the shutdown “a serious blow to press freedom.”
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