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

I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield.

This week, coordinated attacks in Iraqi cities north and south, including Fallujah,

Mosul, Ramadi, and Baghdad.

And war raged in the media, too, as terrorists

broadcast their threats and distributed them on leaflets. The violence in word and action has

intensified in the run-up to Wednesday's historic handover when U.S. forces transfer control over Iraq

to Iraqis. But many political analysts argue that the celebrated

handover will not really hand all that much over. Coalition forces will retain control of much of

Iraq's security and may even reserve the authority to impose martial law should it come to that.

Also on Wednesday, the coalition-run Iraqi media network will pass into Iraqi control,

and it's supposed to form the core of a new public broadcasting service.

But the CPA has long been accused of being heavy-handed in its effort to shape the message,

and those charges have continued in the run-up to the handover. Simon Hazelock, the CPA's head of media development and regulation, has tried

to prepare for an orderly transition. To that end, he oversaw the passage of order number 65,

which established a regulatory structure for Iraqi media, complete with what he calls an FCC-style commission.

But Stephen Schwartz of the Weekly Standard told us last month that Hayslock is over-regulating Iraqi media

before it even has the chance to breathe on its own.

Decree number 65, which is a classic Simon Hazelock type decree, basically gives the coalition

and its success for the government of Iraq regulatory control over print media, broadcasting,

coverage of elections, mobile telephone services, internet providers, internet cafes. This is from

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