Iraqi media no longer tool of the regime

"Baghdad (Asharq Al-Awsat) By Nasser al Ali -The Director of the Iraqi Media Network, Habib Mohammed Hadi al Sadr accused foreign companies that oversaw the network of wasting large sums of money and of expecting the Iraqi media to fail. Despite the difficulties, the network has prospered after it came under Iraqi control.

In an exclusive interview with Asharq Al Awsat, al Sadr revealed that after the network was handed back to Iraq in April 2004, Iraqi media professionals faced “a number of technical and financial difficulties. But in a short period of time, we were able to overcome these problems through discussion and planning and personal effort.” He added, “The foreign companies who managed the network for a considerable time did not invest in the network or even develop it, at least technically.” As an example, al Sadr spoke so "The Iraqi satellite station which used to broadcast through one satellite but is now on air through five satellites and available 24 hours a day”. As for the financial side, he revealed, “Al Sabah newspaper was losing over 170 thousand U.S dollars every month. It is now a profit-making venture. National television has also generated more than five million U.S dollars in profit in the last four months alone.”"
The Kurdistani

I'm very confused! Is this the same Al-Sadr? All of a sudden he's for freedom of the press? Or is there some kind of Arab double speak going on here that I don't see? Or is this some other Sadr?