Viewfinder: Iraq Needs More Video Producers

According to the CIA's World Factbook in 2002, Iraq has 24 million citizens, but only 1.75 million of them have televisions. It has 13 broadcast stations. California, which is about the same size, has 34 million residents and no less than 74 television stations. Of course nearly every house in the United States has at least one television.

Saddam Hussein's regime knew the power of TV. The largest broadcaster, Iraqi TV, continued to broadcast for the first two weeks of war, with some periodic blackouts caused by U.S. air strikes. Only after repeated bombings of multiple transmitter sites did it finally go off the air. The former Iraqi government prepared for war with TV broadcast redundancy, building dozens of transmitters and deploying them in different locations, even in mobile homes and trucks. Television was obviously important in influencing the beliefs of the people. A democratic government may be in Iraq's immediate future, but television will still be an important part of that democracy.

You can be sure that very few Iraqi citizens are video producers and they were no doubt required to support Saddam Hussein in the past. Iraqi citizens never saw opposing views on television. A healthy democracy requires a free press, which includes all media. While less than 8% of Iraqi citizens own TVs, most people have access to television in one way or another. It is most important that the TV programs broadcast in Iraq be made by Iraqis about regional and local issues.