Jun 25, 2014

An Iranian news agency listed six ways in which the Arabic-language media is misrepresenting the crisis in Iraq that reveal hostility toward the Iraqi government.

The list by Fars News Agency, which has close ties to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, reveals some of Iran’s concerns and the positions of the Iranian right toward the crisis in Iraq, especially on speculation about US-Iran cooperation on Iraq. The article also reveals Iran’s concerns regarding sectarianism in the region and the attempts of some officials and media outlets to downplay sectarianism and highlight the issue of terrorism.

Since the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) took over parts of north and west Iraq, the Al-Qaeda offshoot has altered the balance of power within Iraq and threatened to advance to Baghdad. Iran’s political closeness to the central government in Baghdad, its overall influence in Iraq and memories of an eight-year war fought against former leader Saddam Hussein has put Iran’s political elite and western border guards on alert.

According to article, Al-Arabiya, Al Jazeera, BBC Arabic, Sky News and other Arabic-language print and television media in the Persian Gulf are engaged in a kind of psychological warfare by misrepresenting the events in Iraq. While most of the media outlets named above are government-funded, the article made a point of identifying which ones are funded by Saudi Arabia.

The first issue the article noted with the Arabic-language media was the use of the terms "tribes" and "Iraq’s Sunnis" instead of ISIS. For instance, Al-Arabiya reported that “Tribal revolutionaries are on their way to Baghdad.” At the same time, these media organizations will refer to “Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s forces” or “Maliki’s militias” instead of “Iraqi forces.”