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BAQUBAH — Addressing complex issues ranging from journalistic license to the independence of the press, Mr. Richard Tomkins recently gave a media class to local journalists at the Diyala Governance Center in downtown Baqubah, the capital city of Diyala province, March 11. A veteran journalist currently writing for the Washington Times, United Press International, and the Middle East Times, Tomkins has a career that spans more than 36 years, four continents, and a multitude of different publications across the globe. Recently, while embedded with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, in Diyala, Iraq, Tomkins indicated that he...

US activists call for release, pardon of Iraq shoe-thrower Dec 29 03:52 PM US/Eastern US activists on Monday urged Baghdad to release the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush, insisting that his gesture was meant to insult, not harm the US leader. "This was a form of insult... If he had wanted to hurt George Bush, he would have chosen a different weapon," Medea Benjamin of the Codepink peace activism group told AFP at a rally of about a dozen people outside the Iraqi consulate in Washington. Zaidi, 29, threw his shoes at Bush...

Urgent, just reported: Al-Zaidi in U.S. run Camp Cropper prisonIraqi TV al-Sharqiya just reported on the news that AL-Zaidi is transferred to Camp Cropper prison [the Airport prison, managed by the American forces]. The TV Channel announced that Al-Zaidi is in a difficult condition, with broken ribs and signs of tortures on his thighs. Also he can not move his right arm.

(NECN) - President George W. Bush addressed the progress made in the Iraq War on Sunday, in a visit to Baghdad just 37 days prior to handing off the war to President-elect Barack Obama. But President Bush got more than he bargained for -- he was able to show off his dodgeball skills. Or, dodge-shoe skills, in this case. Who throws a shoe, you ask? Al-Baghdadia television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi, who peeled off both of his shoes and threw them a the U.S. President, shouting "This is the end!" Bush dodged both shoes as they whipped past his head. "All...

President George Bush Today dodged two shoes that was thrown at him by an Iraqi reporter. The president displayed some awesome reflexes by quickly dodging the fast moving shoe which was thrown at a close distance. Watch the video at here.

Here's the link to the video of an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at Bush. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfYBGl9q30c Luckily the President has quick reflexes.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes and an insult at George W. Bush, without hitting him, as the US president was shaking hands with the Iraqi premier at his Baghdad office on Sunday. As the two leaders met in Nuri al-Maliki's private office, a journalist sitting in the third row jumped up, shouting: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," and threw his shoes one after the other towards Bush. Maliki made a protective gesture towards the US president, who ducked and was not hit.

An Iraqi reporter called visiting U.S. President George W. Bush a "dog" in Arabic on Sunday and threw his shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad. Iraqi security officers and U.S. secret service agents leapt at the man and dragged him struggling and screaming out of the room where Bush was giving a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The shoes missed their target about 15 feet (4.5 metres) away. One sailed over Bush's head as he stood next to Maliki and smacked into the wall behind him. Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained. "It...

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia wants the Pentagon to freeze up to $300 million in contracts with companies the military is hiring to place pro-U.S. news stories and entertainment programs in the Iraqi media . Webb wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday to ask that the deals be suspended until they can be reviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the next presidential administration. A freshman Democrat, Webb sits on the Armed Services panel. With the United States in "a grave economic crisis" and Iraq's government carrying a $79 billion budget surplus drawn from oil exports, "it...

ABC NEWS' NATALIE GEWARGIS REPORTS: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, can’t seem to make any stops along his whirlwind tour without a press parade following him. But if you’ve only read Iraq's papers Tuesday morning, you wouldn’t even know the presumptive nominee was there. With the exception of one paper, Asharq Al-Awsat, a widely read Saudi publication, most local and regional papers seemed decidedly under-whelmed by the candidate’s visit. Local issues dominated the headlines, including news of increasing typhoid outbreaks, a full Iraqi cabinet meeting (for the first time in about a year), and a story about the frequency of Iraqi...

PATROL BASE YUSIFIYAH — A radio station in Yusifyah, about 25 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, aired its first broadcast throughout the nahia May 15. The station will broadcast Iraqi music of various genres throughout the day, as well as weekly and bi-weekly message segments dealing with various ministry departments of the government. “This is for … the people of Yusifiyah,” said Jamal Hussein, radio station manager. “This station is supported … by both the Coalition and Government of Iraq.” A small building in the Yusifiyah Joint Security Station was renovated with new paint and windows, air conditioning, lights and broadcast...

TIKRIT, Iraq – The commander of Multi-National Division - North held a round table meeting with several major Iraqi media outlets in Baghdad April 11. Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, along with the Iraqi spokesman for the Baghdad Security plan, Tahseen Sheikhly, nine broadcast, four print and one radio agency discussed security, economics and provincial government development in northern Iraq. The event provided an opportunity for Iraqi media to coordinate future embed opportunities with Coalition forces in the area. “This was a great step in the development of relationships between Iraqi journalists and Coalition forces in northern Iraq,” said Maj....

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered Arabic satellite network Al-Arabiya to shut down its Baghdad operations for one month, state television reported. Al-Arabiya said Iraqi police later arrived at its offices to enforce the order. The other pan-Arab satellite network, Al-Jazeera, had its office in the capital closed two years ago. Al-Arabiya, which is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at first said its headquarters had not yet been informed of a ban, but later said on live television that police had arrived at its Baghdad offices to close its operations down. The order apparently was issued...

A suicide car bomber attacked Iraq's largest newspaper, detonating his vehicle inside its fortified compound in downtown Baghdad on Sunday and killing 2 people and wounding 20 others, the executive editor and government officials said. snip. "The terrorists are trying to stop the media project in Iraq," he said in an interview last month. "We have received many threats from Zarqawi's assistants. We published them in the newspaper." He said the bombing Sunday had also been retaliation for his newspaper's organizing a meeting of Iraqi television and newspaper editors this month to sign a "pledge of honor" to respect the...

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has banned television channels from broadcasting gory images of daily bloodshed in the country, the interior ministry said in a statement. During a visit to the ministry on Wednesday, Maliki issued an order prohibiting broadcasters from showing "blood and killings that magnify the horror" and warned of legal action against those violating the order. Major General Rashid Flayah, head of a national police division, urged reporters to tone down stories that could inflame sectarian passions in a country riven by violence between Sunni and Shiite groups. "We will let you do the job, but we...

In the early months of 2003, as the coalition offered Saddam Hussein's regime a final opportunity to comply with the United Nations Security Council, an Iraqi nicknamed "Baghdad Bob" served as a spokesman for Iraq's Information Ministry. He was not exactly a poster child for accuracy. When coalition troops took control of Baghdad's airport, this spokesman was on television denying they were there, saying such reports were "lies" or "a Hollywood movie." Even when shown video footage of U.S. soldiers on Saddam's parade grounds, just around the corner from where he was standing, "Baghdad Bob" said, "There is nothing going...

Magazines Iraqis ReadBy: Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli* IntroductionIn the wake of the fall of the Saddam regime in April 2003, Iraqis experienced a burst of freedoms that had been denied them during the decades of oppressive dictatorship. Within a very short period, there appeared no less than 165 new publication of various sorts - dailies, weeklies, monthlies, and periodicals (though fewer than 100 remained after a year) - as opposed to the four government papers, all of them more or less identical, that appeared in Saddam's time. This freedom of the press has survived, despite all the problems and violence which...

he U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.The documents state that the U.S. campaign aims to turn Iraqis against Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, by playing on their perceived dislike of foreigners. U.S. authorities claim some success with that effort,...

Shock over Iraqi reporter's death The killing of Atwar Bahjat, who rose to fame reporting from Iraq for both main Arabic satellite news networks, has shocked Arab journalistic circles. Gunmen kidnapped and killed her and two members of her crew near Samarra where they had gone to cover reaction to Wednesday's shrine bombing. A member of the al-Arabiya TV team who escaped described how two gunmen showed up as they stood in a crowd of Iraqis. They dragged Bahjat and her colleagues away and shot them. Their bodies were found on the outskirts of Samarra, an area racked by sectarian...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday he was mistaken when he stated last week that the U.S. military had stopped paying Iraqi newspapers to publish pro-American articles. Rumsfeld had said in a television interview on Friday that the U.S. military had ceased paying to place positive stories in Iraqi media after criticism in the U.S. Congress and press. Rumsfeld made similar comments the same day to the Council on Foreign Relations. "I just misstated the facts," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the military command in Iraq was still...