The Baghdad Observer was the official Iraqi-government

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political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

daily

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

that was issued continuously between 1967 and 2003. During that period, due to the popularity of the English language worldwide and due to the official nature of that newspaper it used to be the newspaper most-cited by non-Iraqi politicians and journalists covering Iraqi issues. It also used to be one of the most influential English-language newspapers published in Iraq.

History

The Iraqi authorities forcibly closed the Iraq Times in 1964, which at that time was the most widely circulated English-language Iraqi newspaper. In July of the same year (1964), a new newspaper, the Baghdad News, was issued in order to replace the vacuum left by the then-popular Iraq Times but with more government scrutiny. Baghdad News continued until the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the Iraqi

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a famil ...

with the execution of the Law of the

State Enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

for Organizing Press and Printing No. 155 of 1967. With this infamous law, all the private newspapers were "cancelled" by order of the Iraqi government, including the Baghdad News. With the new law, the Public Press and Printing Enterprise was established to be the central government agency in totalitarian control of all press releases in Iraq. Within days,

Malik Dohan al-Hassan Malik Dohan al-Hassan ( ar, مالك دوهان الحسن; 1 July 1919 – 23 May 2021) was an Iraqi politician and academician, who served as Minister of Culture and Information in 1967, headed the Iraqi Bar Association in 2003, and was the Min ...

, who was the Iraqi Minister of Culture and

Guidance Guidance may refer to: Arts and media * ''Guidance'' (album), by American instrumental rock band Russian Circles * ''Guidance'' (film), a Canadian comedy film released in 2014 * ''Guidance'' (web series), a 2015–2017 American web series * "G ...

at the fourth

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Tahir Yahya Tahir Yahya ( ar, طاهر يحيى; 1916 – 1986) was Prime Minister of Iraq twice, from 1963 to 1965 and a short term in 1967–1968. He was educated at the Baghdad Military College and the Staff College. Born in Tikrit 1916. He was the 4th chi ...

, commissioned staff of the nationalized Baghdad News to use nationalized machinery of the Baghdad News and the Times Press in Baghdad to start a new government-mandated English-language newspaper to centrally replace all private English-language dailies. The new newspaper was named the "Baghdad Observer". Among the names of the founders were Khales Azmi, a former Baghdad News Editor in Chief, Kamal Butti, Edmond Sabri, Nemr Abu Shehab and Amal Afas. According to Azmi in an interview in Baghdad'd Evening newspaper a few days after the first issue of the Baghdad Observer in December 1967, the new newspaper was intended to become "the mouthpiece of the State, both locally and abroad".جريدة "المساء" - بغداد - 13 كانون الاول 1967 - الصفحة 6 The Baghdad Observer newspaper moved from the State Enterprise for Organizing Press and Printing to the House of the Masses for Journalism (Arabic: دار الجماهير للصحافة) after the issuance of the Law of the House of the Massesfor Journalism No. 98 of 1971 and then to the Al-Mamoun House for Translation and Publishing (Arabic: دار المأمون للترجمة والنشر) after the latter was established by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1980. The Baghdad Observer continued to be issued without interruption until one day before the Fall of Baghdad in April 2003.

Editors in Chief

* Khales Azmi (1967-1973) * Fuad Y.M. Qazanchi (1973-1975) *

Naji Sabri Naji Sabri Ahmad Al-Hadithi ( ar, ناجي صبري أحمد الحديثي) (born 1951) served as the Iraqi Foreign Minister under Saddam Hussein in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Background Sabri was a professor of English literatur ...

al-Hadithi (1980-1991) * Nassera as-Sa'dun (1998-2003)

Notable Workers

Dunya Mikhail Dunya Mikhail (born 1965 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi-American poet based in the United States. Life She was born and raised in Iraq to a Chaldean-Catholic family. She graduated with a BA from the University of Baghdad. Mikhail worked as a jo ...

* Taha al-Basry * Zainab Ahmed * Amal ash-Sharqi{{Cite book, last1=سعيد, first1=هاديا, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABBpDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT73&dq=, title=سنوات مع الخوف العراقي, last2=الساقي, first2=دار, date=2017-03-21, publisher=Dar al Saqi, isbn=978-614-425-100-3, language=ar * Ali Ibrahim ad-Dulaimi * Nahida Rasheed at-Tamimi * Hassan Abdel Hamid * Atheer F. al-Abadi

Citations

Newspapers published in Iraq Mass media in Baghdad 1967 establishments in Iraq English-language newspapers published in Arab countries Newspapers established in 1967 Defunct newspapers published in Iraq