The Nationalization of the Iraqi Press in 1967

Abstract

After a bloody conflict which lasted for 98 years , since the issuance of the first Iraqi newspaper , Zawra’a in 1869, and to the establishment of the General Institution for the organization of Press and Printing in 1967, the Iraqi government, which owned the legislative and executive tools, managed to completely eliminate the freedom of the press , through the issuance of law No. 155 of 1967 , which nationalized the private press that became the property of the government , and the journalists working there became government employees, working in the journalistic institutions in return for a fixed monthly salary . The decision to nationalize the Iraqi press is considered a historic turning point in its trajectory, and from here comes the importance of this current research in which the researcher used the descriptive method. It is comprised of four axes: Government attempts to control the press (1958 - 1963), the political developments that paved the way to nationalize press (1963-1966), the nationalization of the press in 1967, and the Iraqi Journalists and the syndicate’s position to the nationalization decision.