30 March 2003

Iraqi TV "a legitimate target" - Myers Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has just said on CNN that the Pentagon regards Iraqi TV and Radio as a legitimate target. Myers assets that the Iraqis are using it for command and control. Asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer why it was still on the air, Myers said that they had a "robust infrastructure" in Iraq, but the coalition are "working on it." Andy Sennitt. 7:32:05 PM     comment on this entry []

Republic of Iraq Radio heard again In its 1200 GMT roundup, BBC Monitoring reports: "Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service, the official radio station of the Iraqi Government, was heard at 0848 gmt on 30 March on 909 kHz mediumwave, thought to be transmitted in Baghdad. It had not been heard by BBC Monitoring since 26 March... "The domestic radio is now only be monitored on very few known mediumwave and shortwave frequencies. Sweeps of the mediumwave and shortwave spectrum have not revealed any new frequencies for Iraqi radio. It is believed that Iraqi domestic radio remains on the air from FM, mobile or lower power transmitters." Andy Sennitt   3:14:29 PM     comment on this entry []

Latest Iraqi media observations There's live press conference going on in Baghdad right now. CNN is carrying it live, but as has become the custom, it's not live on the Iraq Satellite Channel. That's on the air with a scheduled news bulletin. Reception via DSL is excellent at the moment. BBCM continues to report that it cannot hear Iraqi radio on any known frequency. It hears Information Radio at times on 756 kHz, but BBCM reports have made no mention of 4500 kHz so far. Mika Makelainen of DXing.info is currently at Camp as-Sayliyah and reports to the Asia Forum on that site: "Also, I can confirm Tarek´s excellent discovery of Information Radio on 4500 kHz. It is official, the transmissions on this frequency began a few days ago. The transmissions on 4500 kHz originate from a Commando Solo EC-130E aircraft." Nick Grace of CRW believes the transmissions on this frequency are intended for Iraqi Kurdistan, as it's in the range used by a number of existing Kurdish stations. Military activity in that region has been increasing over the past few days. Andy Sennitt. 1:21:55 PM     comment on this entry []

CNN changes tone CNN - at least, the international version - has changed the tone of its war coverage. They've ditched the loud, triumphalist theme music they had been using since the war began. Since Saturday, they've been using a quieter piece of music. They have also cut back on the amount of live reporting, and have a lot more "filler" material such as foreign press reviews, extracts from foreign TV coverage of the war, and a piece on Radio Sawa which was quite sceptical about the station's chances of establishing itself as a credible information source. Andy Sennitt.   1:08:00 PM     comment on this entry []

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