Rebirth of a Salesman?

Ali Al-Mutlbi, IREX’s Senior Media Coordinator based in Najaf, tells us about a local newspaper salesman trying to make ends meet selling papers on the street in a post-Saddam Iraq. The story reflects the difficulties facing many Iraqis today. For those seeking to help develop a vibrant media sector in Iraq, it reminds us that the media is more than journalism, but rather helps generate income for many people up and down the economic ladder.

Abdelameer Mohammed has been selling newspapers and magazines in Iraq since 1993. Although the benefits of this career are retreating, he is still committed to selling newspapers in the street largely because he has no other way to generate an income.

Mohammed is 60 years old and lives in Karbala, 100 kilometers south of Baghdad. “We sold more newspapers before 2003 than we do now despite having fewer papers than we do now,” says Mohammed.

He thinks satellite channels and news agencies are reducing the interest in his newspapers. He also thinks the price of papers nowadays is negatively impacting his business. Mohammed also thinks that the opportunities for newspaper salesman are more lucrative than the shopkeepers who sell papers because his clients prefer to have their papers delivered rather than going to shops to buy their papers. But in today’s Iraq, his readers are looking for breaking news and the information in his newspapers in not as fresh.

Mohammed’s life is hard. He supports a family of 13 despite his income being cut nearly in half.  Mohammed used to make 10,000 dinars a day before 2003. Before 2003 Mohammed was “selling 100 papers every day. But now I sell 40 copies a day, or maybe less.”

He says he finds pleasure in selling papers, and is thankful he has had this opportunity because many Iraqis had to resort to selling their private collections of books after economic sanctions were placed upon Iraq in 1991. Today he makes between five and six thousand dinars a day.

Mohammed serves as a reminder that the media system has a wider impact than simply helping inform citizens. It provides jobs and incomes beyond the newsroom but as media changes, the nature of the economic benefits it provides will also change. It is important to understand that as Iraq moves towards a new media system, a new generation will discover new avenues to help create jobs, incomes, and spur Iraq's economic growth.