Iraqis get first taste of legal satellite TV

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- After years of all-Saddam-most-of-the-time, it comes as quite a change for Iraqis to watch "Tom and Jerry" and the Arabic version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

Liberated from 35 years of stilted official TV glorifying Saddam Hussein, Iraqis are snatching up satellite dishes by the thousands. Cartoons, fitness programs, movies and commercials are flooding into Iraqi living rooms.

These days, in fact, when a favorite show comes on, Iraqis on rooftops yell to neighbors to alert them.

Satellite television is one of the perks U.S.-British occupation has brought postwar Iraq. It has helped introduce them to open debate, free speech and spin, along with the culture of couch potatoes and remote control fights.

"We're like the blind who have been offered the gift of sight," said Mahabat Ahmad, 32, a translator.

The demand for satellite dishes has continued despite a lack of electricity. Prices have dropped from $300 two months ago to about $250. People carry home dishes atop their cars -- passengers clutching them to prevent them from falling.

"They're buying them like they buy bread," said Mohammed al-Mulla, who works in an electronics store. "They say they're buying freedom."

Opening doors

The new freedom has opened doors for the country's American occupiers, who are setting up a new channel in hopes of winning over Iraqis. But it also offers an opportunity for critics to spread anti-U.S. sentiment.

An Iranian-financed TV channel broadcasting in Arabic slams the U.S. presence in Iraq, showing footage of Iraqis mourning two Iraqi soldiers killed by American troops, shots of women being searched and a photo montage featuring Saddam, President Bush and Adolf Hitler.

The Americans have sent advisers contracted by the Defense Department to help set up the Iraqi Media Network. The network is still experimental, but it will let Americans tell their side of the story.

The channel, which doesn't even have a reliable source of electricity yet, hasn't selected its programming.

Obsessed with censorship

To guard against dissent, Saddam's regime was obsessed with censoring everything Iraqis saw, heard or read.

Satellite dishes were banned and anyone caught with one was jailed for six months and fined up to $500. Security forces raided neighborhoods and flew helicopters low over areas where residents were suspected of having dishes. Informing on neighbors, relatives or friends with satellite dishes brought a $25 reward.

On the three official channels, scenes were bleeped out when actors mentioned America or dollars or Kuwait, which was invaded by Saddam's forces in 1990. News focused mostly on Saddam, exalting him as a humanitarian, peace-loving man adored by his people -- footage most Iraqis privately scorned as lies.

Few Iraqis bothered to watch television, although members of the ruling Baath Party had to because they were quizzed about Saddam's speeches.

Mohannad Razouk risked punishment three years ago when he bought a satellite dish.

"They cut everything, including kissing," he said. "I am a man. I wanted to see kissing. It drove me crazy."

Before buying the dish, Razouk built a "secret closet" behind a bookcase to store the dish and receiver. He only used them after midnight when his neighbors were asleep.

Razouk said he placed the dish in the back yard under palm fronds and branches. And he kept the TV volume low.

Razouk said watching Iraqi channels left him in a bad mood, not just because of the drab Saddam fare but also because the few movies shown by Saddam's son Odai's channel -- called Shabab, or Youth TV -- were censored.

"We called it Cut Shabab. The station's aim was to put psychological pressure on us by showing us incomplete programs," he said. "It was part of their war on us."

Ahmad al-Rikaby, who is in charge of the Iraqi Media Network, said he is having trouble ridding his news staff of habits they acquired while working under the old regime.

"They never had a chance to do their own stories. There was no room for creativity," said al-Rikaby, who returned from London to set up the station. The network has 360 employees, some of them former Information Ministry employees.

Al-Rikaby said he gave one staffer a rough translation of an English-language news item and asked him to rewrite it.

"The man came back nervous, begging me not to get mad at him because he changed one word in my translation," al-Rikaby said.

He said the man, who worked for Iraqi TV under Saddam, once had his salary cut for two months because he made a grammatical error.

Iraqis who don't have a dish are limited to the experimental programming of the new Iraqi Media Network, which features soap operas, movies and news, an Iranian channel and a Kurdish channel.

Iraqi families can't get enough TV. Many watch for as long as they have electricity -- a few hours a day. Parents worry about the "kissing" -- a term used to refer to any contact between men and women.

"When I see kissing, I immediately change the channel," said Nahla al-Sabbah, a 32-year-old homemaker.

At least three American radio stations also are broadcasting from Baghdad.

For Inas Sinan, who has a baby boy, her satellite dish is a source of both entertainment and pain. Sometimes, she watches programs that show children on outings, enjoying educational games and having fun.

"Why is it that our children are deprived and theirs are not?" Sinan said.