Saddam Court Coverage
Was 'Shambolic'
By Claire Cozens
Press and Publishing Correspondent
The Independent - UK
7-2-4

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.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1252734,00.html