No surprise -- az-Zaman is "the most coalition-friendly" newspaper, published by a former Iraqi exile, with which "the U.S. forces try to set up meetings to get more of their story into print" (see below):
***** U.S. forces battle to influence Iraqi opinion By TARA COPP Scripps Howard News Service December 09, 2003
. . . With some of the bigger newspapers, the U.S. forces try to set up meetings to get more of their story into print. The most coalition-friendly is also the largest. It's the 30,000-circulation daily Azzaman, which was started in the mid-'90s and is run out of London. Each political party also has its own paper. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan runs the Al-Ittihad, and the Kurdish Democratic Party runs Taakhi. . . .
<http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=IRAQ-MEDIA-12-09-03&cat=II> *****
***** Azzaman, a newspaper founded by an Iraqi exile that is one of the country's largest dailies, with a national circulation of 60,000.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/04/IRAQPRESS.TMP> *****
***** BAZZAZ, Saad al-
Publisher of Azzaman newspaper. Born Mosul, 18 April 1952. Educated at Baghdad University, the Arab Institute, and Exeter University. Has written several books, including Rummad al-Hurub (London: al-Ahliya, 1995), a history of Iraq since the Kuwait war. Career in previous Iraqi government: director, second channel of Iraqi TV (1974-79); director, Iraqi Cultural Centre, London (1979-84); general manager, National House for Printing and Distribution (1984-86); general manager, Iraq News Agency (1986-88); general director, Iraqi TV and Radio (1988-90); editor-in-chief, al-Jumhuriya newspaper (1990-92). See CV. Left Iraq in October 1992 and in 1997 established Azzaman, a daily Arabic newspaper based in London. Publishing operations moved to Iraq after fall of Saddam. Interviews: Middle East Quarterly (December 1995); The Guardian (16 June, 2003). Personal website: www.saadbazzaz.com (mainly in Arabic).
<http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/iraq/who.htm#BAZZAZ> ***** -- Yoshie
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