Media Institutions in the Kurdistan Region:

A Shield for Protecting Power, a Factory for Destroying Public Awareness, a Tool for Concealing the Truth and Squandering Public Wealth.

Dana Sabah Qadir – Activist

The family-based power that has held the reins of government in the Kurdistan Region for decades has brought every aspect of Kurdish society under its control. The most dangerous instrument of this control is its resort to directed and politically controlled media. What is taking place today in the Region under the name of media and journalism is nothing less than an organised assault on critical thought and citizens’ freedom. The authorities in the Region have ruthlessly transformed their media outlets from platforms that should speak the truth into an impenetrable wall, designed to silence every independent voice and genuine criticism directed against them and to prevent any truth from reaching Kurdish society.

Channels affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, such as Rudaw and Ava Media, together with channels affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, such as Channel 8, are merely instruments for disguising the ugly face of a failed system of power. These institutions possess neither genuine independence nor professional integrity; rather, they are directly guided by party decision-making centres in order to distract the public from fundamental problems. The daily output of these channels is structured around distorting the truth, covering up corruption, and diverting public attention towards trivial issues, so that the alleged abuses of those in power—including depriving people of their livelihoods, plundering national wealth, imprisoning and torturing people, and assassinating journalists and advocates of freedom—can pass without accountability.

Their role has been reduced to decorating and beautifying what the author describes as the ugly and repulsive faces of the Barzani and Talabani families.

The deepest tragedy in this equation is that the enormous cost of these media institutions is taken directly from the people’s livelihoods and public wealth. The very money and revenues that belong to the people are being used by these media outlets to deceive, mislead and manipulate the public. Meanwhile, citizens are suffering from unemployment, the absence of basic public services, and imposed poverty, while hundreds of millions of wasted dollars are poured into these institutions to conceal the lies and falsehoods of those in power.

Using public wealth to manufacture an atmosphere of deception and manipulation represents, according to the author, the height of the impunity and injustice of the authorities in the Region. They openly take food from people’s tables in order to use those same resources to silence dissent and conceal the truth.

These media factories, operating in the Region and affiliated with the ruling parties, are working to create a society stripped of its will—a society whose ability to distinguish right from wrong has been taken away.

The time has come to put an end to this dangerous manipulation of national identity and public awareness. Everyone must understand that these channels neither represent the demands of the people nor act as guardians of the future of this land. Rather, they are presented here as instruments for protecting the throne of family and partisan power.

Confronting this media manipulation, refusing to place trust in its broadcasts, and boycotting these outlets are presented by the author as the first steps towards freeing society from the grip of oppression and distortion.