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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview with Mamoun Fandy
Aired October 25, 2003 - 07:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: No shortage of reports of what's going wrong in Iraq. Each week we like to show you what is going right. This week, the birth of a free press in that country.
Here now to tell us more about this monumental move is Mamoun Fandy, a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace.
Thanks very much for joining us this morning.
We certainly appreciate it.
MAMOUN FANDY, U.S. INSTITUTE FOR PEACE: Thank you. Thank you.
CALLEBS: What can you tell us about the free press? I understand a lot of newspapers are cropping up, six or seven dailies, a lot coming out at various times. Are these editors kind of just dipping their toe in the water to see how far they can push the free press or is it something that's opened up rather quickly?
FANDY: Well, it's an amazing experiment that's taking place in Iraq today. I mean it's unfortunate that qualitative changes that are taking place in a society are not easily accessible to reporting.
What's happening in Iraq, for example, is just, this is like -- unlike the surrounding Arab world, you cannot, you shouldn't have a license to just basically publish a newspaper in Iraq. Throughout Iraq, there is more than 200 newspapers, a variety of opinions, a totally free press. You get all kinds of publications taking place. "Al-Zaman (ph)" newspaper, one of the most respected ones. There are also Arab newspapers that are printing in Iraq, like "Al-Shaglasha (ph)," that's publishing also throughout Iraq.
There is some monumental change. I mean this is the -- the box came out open and people are enjoying their freedom.
CALLEBS: Now, what about these newspapers that we're talking about? Do they have a slant to the left or to the right or is it that well-defined at this point?
FANDY: You can get every strand of Iraqi society. Ideologically, you can get from the communist to the Muslim Brotherhood to the fundamentalists to the democratic groups. You can get also ethnic press, which is Turkamen and Kurds. And there are a variety of slants.
But on balance, everything balances each other out.
CALLEBS: What's it going to take to see which of these papers can stand the test of time?
FANDY: Well, I mean the Iraqis, first of all, you have to know, the Iraqis are the most, actually, advanced in the Arab world in terms of actually consuming scholarship and reading material. Throughout, they have been the producer of many materials. It was always known that Baghdad would produce material Beirut used to print and Cairo used to print.
So I think they will stand the test of time. There is at least, you know, some five, six newspapers will be there.
CALLEBS: Right. These are people who lived under such a repressive regime for so long.
FANDY: That's correct.
CALLEBS: Do you think that the actual thoughts, opinions of the average person are coming out in these various papers? And are people still concerned about censorship?
FANDY: Well, the best voices that you read now today, not only just inside Iraq, but outside Iraq, are Iraqis. With freedom, there is very fierce commitment to freedom and people writing their opinion. They're taking risks and actually most people in the Arab world envy the situation in Iraq and they would like to have something similar.
CALLEBS: Well, here's hoping it comes off well.
Mamoud Fandy, senior fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace, thanks very much for joining us this morning.
FANDY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 25, 2003 - 07:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: No shortage of reports of what's going wrong in Iraq. Each week we like to show you what is going right. This week, the birth of a free press in that country.
Here now to tell us more about this monumental move is Mamoun Fandy, a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace.
Thanks very much for joining us this morning.
We certainly appreciate it.
MAMOUN FANDY, U.S. INSTITUTE FOR PEACE: Thank you. Thank you.
CALLEBS: What can you tell us about the free press? I understand a lot of newspapers are cropping up, six or seven dailies, a lot coming out at various times. Are these editors kind of just dipping their toe in the water to see how far they can push the free press or is it something that's opened up rather quickly?
FANDY: Well, it's an amazing experiment that's taking place in Iraq today. I mean it's unfortunate that qualitative changes that are taking place in a society are not easily accessible to reporting.
What's happening in Iraq, for example, is just, this is like -- unlike the surrounding Arab world, you cannot, you shouldn't have a license to just basically publish a newspaper in Iraq. Throughout Iraq, there is more than 200 newspapers, a variety of opinions, a totally free press. You get all kinds of publications taking place. "Al-Zaman (ph)" newspaper, one of the most respected ones. There are also Arab newspapers that are printing in Iraq, like "Al-Shaglasha (ph)," that's publishing also throughout Iraq.
There is some monumental change. I mean this is the -- the box came out open and people are enjoying their freedom.
CALLEBS: Now, what about these newspapers that we're talking about? Do they have a slant to the left or to the right or is it that well-defined at this point?
FANDY: You can get every strand of Iraqi society. Ideologically, you can get from the communist to the Muslim Brotherhood to the fundamentalists to the democratic groups. You can get also ethnic press, which is Turkamen and Kurds. And there are a variety of slants.
But on balance, everything balances each other out.
CALLEBS: What's it going to take to see which of these papers can stand the test of time?
FANDY: Well, I mean the Iraqis, first of all, you have to know, the Iraqis are the most, actually, advanced in the Arab world in terms of actually consuming scholarship and reading material. Throughout, they have been the producer of many materials. It was always known that Baghdad would produce material Beirut used to print and Cairo used to print.
So I think they will stand the test of time. There is at least, you know, some five, six newspapers will be there.
CALLEBS: Right. These are people who lived under such a repressive regime for so long.
FANDY: That's correct.
CALLEBS: Do you think that the actual thoughts, opinions of the average person are coming out in these various papers? And are people still concerned about censorship?
FANDY: Well, the best voices that you read now today, not only just inside Iraq, but outside Iraq, are Iraqis. With freedom, there is very fierce commitment to freedom and people writing their opinion. They're taking risks and actually most people in the Arab world envy the situation in Iraq and they would like to have something similar.
CALLEBS: Well, here's hoping it comes off well.
Mamoud Fandy, senior fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace, thanks very much for joining us this morning.
FANDY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
