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

I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield.

How hard will it be to cover what increasingly seems to be an inevitable war?

Indications are very hard.

The Iraqi government was angered, apparently by coverage of a demonstration this week in the streets of Baghdad.

The protesters, relatives of prisoners, wanted to know why their loved ones were not among those

released in a general amnesty last Sunday.

I want this message to get to Saddam Hussein, she says.

Our son was taken in 1991.

The interview ends as a government official steps in.

That was CNN's Nick Robertson.

The American media coverage of this unprecedented event was not abundant, but it was enough

to infuriate the government in Baghdad.

So on Thursday, it ordered the expulsion of most foreign journalists who will have to reapply under strict new rules for at most 10-day visas.

This is surprising, not because of the Iraqi response, but maybe because the protest was covered at all.

It has long been the case that in order to obtain a visa for Iraq, journalists have had to sell a little of their

souls. Or so contends journalist Franklin IV in a recent New Republic article. Here's why. Most of the

Western Press bureaus in Baghdad are based in the Ministry of Information. They need signed

authorization for anything they film. They are assigned permanent minders who follow them everywhere.

Their reports are closely monitored, and if they step out of line,

if their stories don't pass muster, their visas are revoked and they're expelled.

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