Iraqi media entrepreneurs across social media: Factors and challenges

Abstract

Influenced by digital technologies, the cost of media production has considerably decreased, and the traditional media is faced with new agile, flexible and low-cost media entrepreneurs. This article examines the dynamics of the Iraqi media market transformation with an emphasis on factors that help to merge media entrepreneurs and digital media firms that target an audience on social media. A qualitative method was adopted in this study using open, in-depth interviews with nineteen media entrepreneurs and three managers of media firms. The study revealed that relative freedom and advanced communication technologies have encouraged media entrepreneurs to drive the new media on producing short videos and broadcast them on social media, which has become popular among media consumers. This new era in Iraqi media entrepreneurship has created an abstract space in which media entrepreneurs get involved in the media market, collaborate with international media and deliver values through the use of user-generated content and flexible journalism. This opportunity is shaped by three key interrelated factors: first, the relative freedom of journalism that resulted from the political environment, current regulations and advanced communication technologies that provide more space of freedom; second, the development of communication technologies that allow journalists and media entrepreneurs to employ the media market effectively; third, the emergence of media entrepreneurs themselves who are convinced to seize the opportunities presented by the two previous factors.