Iraq expels CNN from Baghdad

CNN, the broadcaster that made its reputation covering the Gulf War from Baghdad, has been expelled from the country by the Iraqi government along with two other US TV news broadcasters.

Foreign journalists working for CNN, ABC and NBC have been ordered to leave the country within the next few days by government officials, who claimed their reporting had been "unauthorised" and "offensive".

The expulsions come against a backdrop of heightened tension with the US, which is threatening to take military action against the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.

But the BBC and US broadcaster CBS said they had not been asked to leave the city.

CNN's president of newsgathering, Eason Jordan, claimed the Iraqi government was unhappy about the US broadcasters' reporting of an anti-government demonstration in Baghdad earlier this week.

The government claimed CNN had fabricated a report that government forces fired into the air to disperse the demonstrators. But Jordan said CNN had footage of the gunshots.

"We're not here to please or displease the Iraqi government or any government," he said. "We're just trying to do our jobs the best we can."

CNN claims to have the only western journalists to be permanently based in Baghdad - all other news organisations rely on locals for their coverage much of the time.

Journalists for CNN have been expelled briefly from Iraq on five occasions since the broadcaster first opened a Baghdad bureau in 1990.

However, Jane Arraf, the current CNN bureau chief, has been based in Baghdad for four years and her departure will effectively close CNN's Baghdad bureau for the first time.

Jordan said the Iraqi government was also upset that CNN had stationed a news team in the northern part of the country, where a no-fly zone enforced by US and British fighter planes has allowed Kurds and dissident Iraqis to live outside President Saddam's reach.

The Iraqi authorities have told CNN that when its staff are allowed back into the country, only one non-Iraqi journalist will be granted a visa and for no longer than 10 days.

The International Federation of Journalists has called for Iraq to withdraw its threat to expel the foreign journalists, branding it an attempt at media intimidation.

"In a time of crisis Iraq should have the courage to face the world," said Aidan White, the IFJ general secretary.

"This news is bad for world opinion and bad for Iraq," White added.

He said if the Iraqi government truly believed CNN was a "mouthpiece of the US government" it should open up the country to more rather than fewer journalists.

"We can only conclude the complaint of bias is just an excuse to intimidate independent media voices," White said.