Saddam court coverage was 'shambolic'
London
Guardian | July 2 2004
The world's media descended on Baghdad this
week to witness the historic court appearance of the former Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein. But for journalists covering the hearing it was an exercise
in enormous frustration, with only a handful of media organisations allowed
in to the court room.
Broadcasters and press alike were furious
with the arrangements, which left print journalists struggling to obtain
any information on the day that one of the most hated men in the world was
finally brought to court.
"We were told the night before what the arrangements
would be - but by the morning of the hearing they had changed completely,"
said a staff member of one international broadcaster. "It's been a
bit of a shambles, no one had a clue what was going on."
CNN and the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera were the only
two TV stations to be allowed into the court room, while only one print
journalist - the New York Times' chief foreign correspondent John Burns
- was given access.
Although CNN made its footage available to other broadcasters,
it was yesterday insisting its star reporter Christiane Amanpour was there
in a "unilateral" capacity after she was granted access by the
director of the Iraqi special tribunal, Salem Chalabi, and her reports were
branded exclusive.
Mr Chalabi's involvement in the trial - which was expected
to take two years to come to court - is already undermining the credibility
of the proceedings.
He is the nephew of Ahmed Chalabi, one of Saddam's most
vociferous opponents and the man America once backed as would-be leader
of Iraq, now accused of treachery against the US and of peddling disinformation
about non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
Last night the BBC's John Simpson had to make do with interviewing
an American journalist - ABC anchor Peter Jennings - who had gained access
to the court after making the same "unilateral" request to the
Americans running proceedings.
Print journalists fared even worse, forced to rely on soundless
TV images of the proceedings, together with the testimony of an Arabic-speaking
CNN producer who had been in court but had not been warned he would be the
sole witness of events in the courtroom.
In a televised briefing to journalists, the producer admitted
his notes had been intended for his own use and for background colour.
The Guardian's Baghdad correspondent Rory McCarthy described
the process as a "shambolic".
"With no audio it was impossible," he said. "The
arrangements for the handover were the same - that's just the way things
are done here at the moment."
No audio recording of the proceedings was available, although
Burns provided a short tape recording in which he described the appearance
of the court before the hearing began, but only a single quote from Saddam
- "I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq".
At 8.30pm local time, Burns finally gave a briefing to
the gathered press - too late for British newspaper deadlines.
But no local media organisations were present, and the
only Iraqi journalist there was asked to leave before the proceedings began
fully.
