Freedom of the Press in Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Basic aim of this study is to evaluate the freedom of press in Iraqi Kurdistan region and how journalists think about freedom of press in this region, also the concept of ‘freedom of the press’ by conducting a survey and also by examining international and regional human rights documents ranging from the United Nations documents, the most democratic countries to less or undemocratic countries constitutions. The study starts reviewing normative press theories related to the concept of press freedom. It basically focuses on social responsibility theory of the press, which sees press freedom as a vital element of democracy. The theory argues that only free and responsible press can help citizens to make enlightened decisions. For the data gathering process, quantitative methodology is employed. A survey questionnaire was developed by the researcher to find out how journalists evaluated journalism in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. There were 34 questions in the survey’ and 99 journalists who were working in the media outlets filled the questionnaire. They were chosen from different media outlets including government controlled media, political party controlled media, and independent media. The results show that the majority of journalists do not think that journalism in Kurdistan is free according to international standards. They also do not believe the constitutional guarantee for the press freedom. However, they think that journalism is an improving profession in this region. The study found out that there are gender and age differences on evaluating different aspects of journalism in Kurdistan region of Iraq. Keywords: Freedom of press, social responsibility theory, Iraqi Kurdistan Region.