"[...] MiCT conducted a comparative content analysis on coverage of two issues of national concern on eight different Iraqi TV channels in August 2019: (1) the shelling of a PMF-held position near the Balad Air Base in Salahuddin and (2) the lifting of parliamentary immunity of select Members of Parliament (MPs), namely Talal al-Zobaie, the former head of the Integrity Committee. The purpose of this research is to understand the differences between how local TV channels select and frame political events and the news time they dedicate to these events. The channels included in the sample were selected from the North, Center and South of the country, representing different political, regional and sectarian strands across Iraq. The study recorded, transcribed and compared the content of main news bulletins from eight Iraqi TV channels over four days during the third week of August 2019 (19-23 August 2019). The shelling revealed polarisation between al-Ahed, owned by Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) (the Iran-controlled wing of the Popular Mobilization Forces) and the public channel al-Iraqiya, known to be controlled by the government. The analysis found that the two antagonists used ‘their’ channels to promote opposing narratives on this event. The polarisation is however not between the Sunni and Shia camp, but rather highlights the inner-Shia conflict between certain factions within the PMF and the government. Countering this polarisation, the content analysis of the shelling also revealed a major midfield of discourse in which no significant differences between Sunni- and Shia-backed channels were found. Iraqi channels engage in broad and pluralistic debate, producing and circulating an array of frames across regional and sectarian borders. These channels’ scope of coverage, wealth of opinions and critical analyses position them as evidence of media pluralism at work. From this angle, as salient as it may be, polarisation appears to be a remnant from the time of ethno-sectarian politics, which still work inside the system but are slowly fading." (Executive summary, page 4)