Killings, arrests, bans and confiscated film have been the lot of journalists covering the conflict in Iraq as deadly violence and a precarious security situation continue to paralyse the war-torn country.
Iraq's US-installed interim Governing Council has prohibited Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite station from covering its activities for one month, the channel's Baghdad bureau chief said Saturday.
"Al-Jazeera was forbidden from covering from January 28 to February 27," Abdulhaq Saddah told AFP.
During a news conference, Adnan Pachachi, then leader of the council, said Al-Jazeera had broadcast a "provocative programme in which one of its participants was very excessive (in their remarks) and made accusations against certain council members."
The ban comes after Dubai-based Al-Arabiya resumed its coverage from Iraq on Wednesday following a two-month suspension meeted out by the Governing Council for "inciting to murder."
Reinstating Al-Arabiya, the head of the Governing Council's media committee, Samir al-Sumaydai, said his government "wants to open to everyone the opportunity to work in Iraq."
"We ask them to be moderate, not to incite to violence or anything that might represent a danger for national security," he added.
"We do not want to go back to the information ministry (of Saddam Hussein) which controlled everything. We want a free press," he added.
Although things have improved since Saddam's heavily-censored press and ban on foreign correspondents travelling independently, the Governing Council is pushing for a comprehensive media law that would regulate some content.
In mid-January it invited journalists to a briefing about the role of a future industry watchdog called the National Media Committee. Reporters were handed a document entitled "A Code of Conduct for Media Work" and asked for "voluntary signature" from all working in Iraq.
Some journalists "have overstepped the danger zone in their coverage at times threatening Iraq's national security," Ibrahim al-Zubaidi, secretary general of the council's media committee, told AFP.
But the coalition has said it is against regulating media content and that this job should be left to media professionals themselves.
Nevertheless, journalists have complained of maltreatment from US soldiers, particularly at the scene of attacks.
Cameramen frequently have their film confiscated, reporters are threatened and have even been arrested by troops.
On Tuesday, Reuters news agency slammed the Pentagon for failing to address concerns about reporters in war-torn Iraq after US troops killed two of its cameramen and arrested two journalists and their driver.
On January 2, two Reuters journalists and the driver were detained for 72 hours near the restive town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, by US troops after being mistaken for enemy fighters, the company said in a statement.
Following their release, the international news agency lodged a formal complaint with the US military, attesting to their alleged mistreatment in detention.
"The safety of journalists in Iraq is not improving," said global managing editor David Schlesinger.
Two Reuters cameramen, Ukrainian-born Taras Protsyuk, 35, and Palestinian Mazen Dana, 43, were also killed by US troops while covering the Iraq war in 2003.
But the threat does not just come from the United States and its Iraqi allies.
Cable News Network (CNN) translator/producer Duraid Isa Mohammed and driver Yasser Khatab died of multiple gunshot wounds when their two-car convoy was ambushed by unidentified assailants on the outskirts of Baghdad on Tuesday.
It was not clear if they knew who their targets were.
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