Digital and Political Transformation: A Perspective on the Discourse of Iraqi Media System

Abstract

This paper examines the current nature of the Iraqi media system through the lens of two significant influences: the digitalization of global media and the country’s political transformation in 2003. It discusses the important shifts in the digital environment and their reflection on the media discourse of media systems in their historical context. The concept of the media system, how historical studies of media systems evolved, and the stages of development of concepts and classifications that researchers have carried out for media systems in the world were reviewed. The paper also explored the problematic changes that are taking place in contemporary media systems due to the digital changes that have changed the close relationship between the media and political systems in societies. The analytical descriptive approach was used to gain an accurate and detailed understanding of the media system in Iraq. The paper concluded that the discourse of the media system in Iraq was simultaneously associated with digital and political transformation when political change led to an openness to the new digital environment, but the features of this system at the micro-level are linked to the determinants of the turbulent political scene in Iraq that created a plurality of conflicting discourses enriched with a unique sort of political parallelism and political conflict-related interests.