The Listening Post

Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr: The messaging and the mayhem

How much is Muqtada al-Sadr’s influence and messaging power threatening the Iraqi state? Plus, the Russia-Ukraine conflict – as seen from space.

It has been a year of mounting crises in Iraq and influential Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has taken advantage of the most recent one with a clever communications strategy spanning from sermons to social media.

Contributors:
Renad Mansour – Iraq Initiative, Chatham House
Ruba Ali Al-Hassani – Iraq researcher
Ammar Karim – Iraqi journalist
Hayder Hamzoz – Digital rights activist, Founder, Iraqi Network for Social Media

On our radar:

Four months after the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the Israeli military has finally admitted it was “highly possible” she was shot by an Israeli soldier. Producer Tariq Nafi has been tracking the case.

Satellite imagery: the final frontier for news?

Satellites have entered the newsroom, but are they the all-seeing eye they claim to be? Producer Ahmed Madi reports on the stories they are telling – and those they are not.

Contributors:
Lisa Parks – Director, MIT Global Media Technologies and Cultures Lab; author, Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual
Chris Quilty – CEO, Quilty Analytics, satellite and space industry analyst
Michael Cruickshank – Open-source journalist and geospatial analyst