Political Candidates’ Coverage in the 2010 Iraqi General Elections

This study investigates the tone of political candidates’ election coverage in the evening newscasts of four Iraqi satellite television channels: Iraqia (state-run), Furat (Shiite), Hurria (Kurdish), and Baghdad (Sunni) for the 14 days leading up to the 7 of March 2010 Iraqi general election. Iraq is believed to have a new liberal and plural media that emerged after 2003 which is different from the authoritarian media during Saddam Hussein's rule. Except for Iraqia TV, the three other channels are run, supported, and funded by different political parties. The analysis included examining 56 evening newscasts which had 857 news stories related to the elections. Although the channels all claimed to follow the principles of good journalism such as being fair, balanced, and objective, the evidence presented here indicates that all four channels were biased and one-sided in their coverage of the Iraqi politicians. Even the state-run al-Iraqia channel that was expected to stay neutral in its coverage due to its mandate, showed slight preferences to some politicians over the others.