Wassit-Newspapers (Feature) Aswat Al Iraq
Saddam execution sells newspapers like hot cakes in Wassit
By Abdul-Jabbar al-Sufrani
Wassit, Jan 7, (VOI) - Residents of the Iraqi Shiite province of Wassit, 180 km southeast of the capital Baghdad, were anxious to buy newspapers after a nine-day hiatus due to the Eid al-Adha (Bairam) and New Year holidays, with some readers searching for photos of the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Jabbar Elewi, an owner of a bookstore in Kut, the main city of in the province, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that the ceasing of newspapers for nine days made readers waiting since the early morning today, even before the newspapers arrived to the bookstore.
“The important developments that took place during the holiday, topped by the execution of former President Saddam Hussein, whetted the readers’ appetite to follow up the procedure in the press although everyone watched it on the Internet and satellite channels,” Elewi said.
“I get 650-750 newspapers on a daily basis and they do not usually run out but today’s newspapers were all sold early,” he added.
Elewi wished to see a future mechanism by the newspapers to continue on official holidays and so that the readers would be in uninterrupted connection with the press.
Fallah Aziz Sagban, a regular newspaper reader, ruled out that Saddam execution was behind massive purchase of today’s press, adding the issue was over and everybody was fully informed about it during the past few days.
“I buy nearly ten different newspapers daily to read about the government ads and tenders. I do not have an interest in other news reports,” said Sagban.
Diaa Hassoun, a newspaper pedlar in Kut, said “I call out new headlines everyday to attract commercial shop owners. I have many clients and standard subscribers.”
Muhammad al-Badri, an owner of a mobile library, who displays newspapers on the pavement, stuck some certain pages of today’s newspapers on the wall facing him so that everyone may read them as the number of newspapers he had was not enough.
“I always do this when I run out of newspapers, particularly when they contain important news, like those reports about appointments, raises in salaries or pensioners,” Badri told VOI.
The main newspaper distributor in Wassit, Ghalib Jumaa, had a problem: the number of newspapers he received from distributors in Baghdad was dramatically reduced, which caused him to have an embarrassing situation with bookstore owners and providers.
“I usually get 2250-2500 newspapers everyday, but all newspapers I got today were 1750. I had nothing to do except lessening the providers’ quotas,” said Jumaa.
The total number of newspapers in Iraq that appeared after the fall of the former regime in April 2003 exceeded 150, mostly belonged to political parties, organizations and investors, shrank to less than half.
In Wassit, the number during the same period was more than 13. They all stopped successively for lack of finance. In early 2006 no single newspaper of those 13 has remained but after mid-2006 only one weekly newspaper. Financed by the provincial council, the paper, called Majlis Wassit (Wassit Council), is interested in news about and activities of the province’s council.
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