Friday, May 04, 2007
Sunni radio station attacked
Media, Security
(AP) - Gunmen stormed the offices of an independent radio station in a predominantly Sunni area of Baghdad on Thursday, killing two employees and wounding five before bombing the building and knocking the station off the air, police said. It was the third attack in five months against the private Dijlah radio station in the Jami'a neighborhood.
Karim Youssef, the station's deputy director, said gunmen also tried to kidnap four employees as they were riding to work, but the driver managed to get away. He said the two-story building then came under attack with rockets, rifles and hand grenades about 2:30 p.m. "Our guards and the staff resisted the attackers for 30 minutes before evacuating the building," Youssef said, adding the attackers then detonated a bomb on the first floor that destroyed all the equipment, including the transmitter.
"Now the radio is not operating," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "We are an independent radio station ... They are targeting us because we are independent and we have no sectarian policy. Our news is balanced and we have employees from all sects and ethnic groups."
Radio Dijlah, named after the Arabic word for the Tigris River, was created in 2004 as Iraq's first independent talk radio station. Gunmen also abducted a radio newscaster, Karim Manhal, and his driver while releasing a female staffer who was with them near the station's headquarters on March 17. Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, a 36-year-old Sunni news editor with the private station was gunned down as he drove to work on Dec. 4.
Journalists and media outlets have been frequent targets of militants and sometimes security forces in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded at least 100 journalists and 37 media support workers killed - not including Thursday's attack - and at least 48 journalists abducted.
Karim Youssef, the station's deputy director, said gunmen also tried to kidnap four employees as they were riding to work, but the driver managed to get away. He said the two-story building then came under attack with rockets, rifles and hand grenades about 2:30 p.m. "Our guards and the staff resisted the attackers for 30 minutes before evacuating the building," Youssef said, adding the attackers then detonated a bomb on the first floor that destroyed all the equipment, including the transmitter.
"Now the radio is not operating," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "We are an independent radio station ... They are targeting us because we are independent and we have no sectarian policy. Our news is balanced and we have employees from all sects and ethnic groups."
Radio Dijlah, named after the Arabic word for the Tigris River, was created in 2004 as Iraq's first independent talk radio station. Gunmen also abducted a radio newscaster, Karim Manhal, and his driver while releasing a female staffer who was with them near the station's headquarters on March 17. Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, a 36-year-old Sunni news editor with the private station was gunned down as he drove to work on Dec. 4.
Journalists and media outlets have been frequent targets of militants and sometimes security forces in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded at least 100 journalists and 37 media support workers killed - not including Thursday's attack - and at least 48 journalists abducted.
Labels: gunmen, Jami'a, Karim Youssef, Radio Dijlah, radio station
Monday, March 26, 2007
New Sunni - Shia radio station with a message of peace
Media
(McClatchy Newspapers) - In Baquba, one of the most violent provinces in Iraq, two Shiites and two Sunnis kicked off their first broadcast of a new media outlet, the Independent Radio and Television Station, on Sunday. Their message is one of peace, and they hope it will help quiet the sectarian violence that has shattered their lives in the bloody province of Diyala, which has a Sunni majority.
Inside a U.S. army outpost southeast of Baquba, cut off from the outside world with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers surrounding them, with U.S. help the three men and one woman restarted the station, which once operated under Saddam Hussein’s rule and, later, as part of the Iraqi Media Network.
They’re funding comes from advertising revenue bought by the U.S. 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Diyala to send out coalition messages. The brigade invested $36,000 to start the station. A Global Outreach Team from the U.S. Embassy was commissioned to help. They used jumper cables and a 12-volt battery to restart the radio transmitter, and they use a tower built for Saddam to preach a message of unity.
Inside a U.S. army outpost southeast of Baquba, cut off from the outside world with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers surrounding them, with U.S. help the three men and one woman restarted the station, which once operated under Saddam Hussein’s rule and, later, as part of the Iraqi Media Network.
They’re funding comes from advertising revenue bought by the U.S. 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Diyala to send out coalition messages. The brigade invested $36,000 to start the station. A Global Outreach Team from the U.S. Embassy was commissioned to help. They used jumper cables and a 12-volt battery to restart the radio transmitter, and they use a tower built for Saddam to preach a message of unity.
U.S. troops provide fuel and food. Water and daily commodities must be bought into the city and delivered by the army. Now that that have appeared on TV as far west as Fallujah and south to Hilla, they can no longer walk the streets of their native Baquba. Their lives are at a standstill inside this desert outpost.
Labels: Baqouba, Independent Radio and Television Station, radio station
