Oversight Fight Puts Iraqi TV News on Hold

The U.S.-sponsored Iraqi TV station began broadcasting Tuesday, although staff members complained of American censorship, including efforts to stop it from airing passages from the Koran.

Baghdad residents with electricity saw the Iraqi flag appear on their screens as an Arab nationalist anthem played. The Iraqi Media Network then aired canned interviews and decades-old music shows.

Plans to air a half-hour live news program were postponed because of disputes over editorial control.

Dan North, a Canadian documentary maker advising Iraqis at the station, which plans two hours of programming each night, said the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance had requested that the station’s news programs be reviewed by the wife of Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader.

“Could you imagine a political leader being able to check the content of any Western media?” North said. The news program would be postponed for a week because of the wrangling, he said. U.S. officials would not comment.

The network aired verses from the Koran, after Iraqi workers threatened to walk out if they were dropped.