Journalists Protection Law before parliament within 2 weeks – MP

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Parliamentary Culture and Media Commission member Ali Al-Shalah said that the commission held a long discussion on the Journalists’ Protection Law, pointing out that the law will be put to a vote within the coming two weeks.   “We now have a modern law for journalists, which shall encompass all journalists’ rights, particularly on the vocational side, and the rights journalists to have access to information,” Shalah told IraqiNews.com.   “The law stipulated that journalist could not be detained,” he added.   He expected the journalistic community will welcome this law.   The law aims at providing protection and guaranteeing their rights, and no journalist will be interrogated with the knowledge of Iraqi Union of Journalists.   The law stipulated that foreign media agencies should sign contracts with the Iraqi journalist, which are then to be registered with the Union.   Journalist have the right to get the information and statistics from their sources, within the capacity of the law, and maintain the confidentiality of their sources.   On the other hand, journalists have the right not to write on subject matter contrary to their own beliefs and consciousness.   Any journalist has the right to express his view point within the limits of the law. RM (TI)/SR 346