Iraqi journalists used to celebrate the Iraqi Journalism Day on June 15 each year, considering that this date is the birth of the oldest Iraqi newspaper, Al Zawra, issued on this date in 1869.

In order to shed light on the emergence and composition of the Iraqi press, it is necessary to stand at this date and research on the merits of this newborn and in this circumstance that passed through Iraq at that time, where the Ottoman control of the country and the spread of illiteracy among its children and the situation of poverty and deprivation implicated in the redundancy of Iraqi society.

The story of the Iraqi press begins with the appointment of the governor Medhat Pasha to Iraq, where he brought with him a printing press from Paris, where he printed the newspaper, and then founded an industrial school in Baghdad, and one of its goals was to fill the need of the printing press to technical workers and employees. Between citizen and power. The emergence of this newspaper marks a significant transformation and a turning point in the cultural life and progress that was accelerating in the world, especially in Europe.

Al-Zawra is an official newspaper founded by the writer Ahmed Medhat Effendi and at the same time the first to take over the editorial. It was followed by Izzat al-Farouqi, Ahmad al-Shawi al-Baghdadi, Taha al-Shawaf, Muhammad Shukri al-Alusi, Abdul Majid al-Shawi and Jamil Sedqi al-Zahawi. .

Al-Zawra was interested in publishing news related to internal and foreign affairs, in addition to publishing articles and articles in cultural, political and health affairs. It also focused on criticizing the phenomenon of corruption in the performance of government departments.

Al-Zawra is an important historical source for assessing the political and social conditions prevailing in Iraq during that period.