Gerald Brown, in his e-broadcastnewsasia newsletter, reports the current media situation in Iraq (reprinted courtesy of e-bna).

Out from the ashes of a dictatorship, comes a plethora of independently run, radio and TV stations. They have sprung up all over Iraq filling the vacuum of a now defunct national broadcasting network.

Amazing stories surround the start ups – like state radio and TV employees hiding two mobile broadcast trucks, one containing a portable TV production facility and transmitter, the other a radio station and transmitter.

The trucks were spirited away in the city of Kut by caring staff and hidden until they could proclaim the new independent Kut Radio and TV. The mobile equipment was supposed to replace fixed facilities that Saddam thought would be destroyed by US and British aircraft. Others have grabbed local relay transmitters in places like Najaf, Kerbala and Hilla and have connected makeshift studio equipment for broadcast.

Popular programs include local news and coverage of pressing issues, prayers from the Koran, music and football. Iraqis have embraced the meaning of a free media.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad the previous national radio station and TV Channel 3, on June 20, 2003 was replaced by the Coalition sponsored, Iraqi Media Network (IMN), on which millions of dollars is being spent on new production and transmission equipment.

The Interim Coalition administration says it will get around to licensing the proliferation of independent broadcasters, but it is not its highest priority for now.

That does not mean that the media is not being monitored. Stations will be taken off the air if they cause problems to the coalition through extremist programming. But for now any Iraqi who can lay their hands on spare equipment and a frequency can broadcast.