From WNYKRC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. Despite Iraqi assurances that elections will take place on January 30th,

it's unclear who will be there to report on them. Much of the foreign media stays sequestered in the few remaining secure areas, sending Iraqi fixers to do their reporting.

And it's these fixers and homegrown Iraqi reporters who are at the greatest risk.

Dozens of Iraqi journalists have been killed on the job since the war began,

and this week, as Prime Minister Alawi declared portions of Iraq too dangerous for Iraqis to vote,

it's clear that covering the elections will be no less risky.

Hewa Asman directs the training of Iraqi journalists for the Institute for War and Peace reporting.

A poll conducted by his group found that most Iraqis believe they'll be voting for a president,

not for a 275-seat interim national assembly.

There is a huge information gap here in Iraq.

Sources of news about Iraq are divided into two categories.

International media outlets that include the Arab satellite channels and also the international media outlets

like NPR and BBC and others, especially those who have Arabic service as well.

Iraqis rely on them for news, but they feel that the Iraqi story is seen with a Washington

eye or with a London eye.

The audience are the people who live in the United States or in the West in general.

And as far as the Arab satellite channels are concerned,

with every day that passes their Sunni Islamist agenda as it becoming more and more prominent in their reporting.

Quite a few Iraqis today say that these

Arab satellite channels and other Arab media outlets are having a nervous breakdown because

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