The Media and Communications Authority rejects the recommendations of the Prime Minister to support

[size=52]The Media and Communications Authority rejects the recommendations of the Prime Minister to support independent radio stations[/size]

[size=45]The crisis of the independent radio remains unresolved after the Media and Communications Commission insisted on closing many independent radio stations under the pretext of not paying their debts, despite the fact that dozens of other radio stations belonging to armed parties and groups continue to broadcast without paying their debts,[/size]
[size=45]This procedure reflects the confusion of the authority, which insists that independent radio stations be subject to its authority. The procedures of the Media and Communications Commission to refuse to reduce the fees for the frequency spectrum may cause the closure of a number of independent Iraqi radio stations.[/size]
[size=45]The authority is demanding huge sums of money from these broadcasters or to stop broadcasting, a decision that causes and also causes the dismissal of many workers.[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, observers and managers of media institutions say that the authority turns a blind eye to radio stations belonging to political parties and parties that have armed arms broadcasting outside their packages and do not pay attention to their provoking sectarian strife, and they also said that independent national radio stations have become in the jaws of the organization that does not accept the reduction of wages, and the general closure due to the Corona virus Prevent it from broadcasting advertisements, which are an important resource.[/size]
[size=45]Many radio stations have confirmed that the authority has sent teams of their cadres accompanied by members of the National Security to the headquarters of the radio stations and forcing them to stop broadcasting and close the office until the debts are settled, and the workers in the independent radio stations believe that this procedure aims to give broadcasts of a number of political parties hesitations, after Iraqi space is filled with frequencies due to chaos and disorganization[/size]
[size=45]They pointed out that “the commission has not closed any of the radio stations belonging to political parties, especially the parties of the authority, which operate despite having large debts owed by them, but some of them work without a license from the commission,” and thus does not entail any financial or professional commitment.[/size]
[size=45]A source had confirmed that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi had met with the Communications Commission and demanded that the debts owed by independent broadcasters be eliminated and that broadcast service fees be reduced, which burdened these radio stations, which contributed to combating the ideas of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism.[/size]
[size=45]Workers in independent radio stations called on the government to open an investigation into the authority’s recent actions, and its refusal to implement the orders of the Prime Minister’s office and to find out about the commission’s violations in the name of the law.[/size]
[size=45]The Media and Communications Commission has exercised great pressure on independent radio stations for more than a year, as military forces accompanied by the National Security have moved to force a number of independent radio stations to close by force, or to pay fees that were approved in 2004 during the era of the Coalition Authority, but these practices were not applied against party institutions. Informative. The strange thing is that after the authority closed these radios, it returned and sent a letter asking these broadcasters to pay the frequency fees for the year 2021, despite the fact that the authority closed these radios in 2020.[/size]
[size=45]The decisions of the Media and Communications Commission are causing widespread controversy in Iraq, because of its practices that some consider arbitrary and exaggerated, and its management according to the interests of certain political parties, while it allows the work of radio stations that stir sectarian strife and harm national security, this same body closes radio stations broadcasting cultural and artistic programs And it seeks to support the political process in Iraq.[/size]
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