Iraq-Kurdistan Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
May 19, 2011
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Middle East and North Africa MSI in 2005.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download the Complete Iraq-Kurdistan MSI Chapter (PDF): 2009 | 2008
MSI Iraq-Kurdistan - 2009 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.81
A series of important political changes, including the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2009, swept Kurdistan in 2009. A viable opposition emerged through the elections, with three opposition parties gaining 35 seats. The elections also revealed waning public support for Sulaimania and Dahuk, the two dominant parties in the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
The parliamentary changes affected all aspects of society, and journalism in particular, in 2009. Media in Kurdistan has advanced in some respects, yet it still suffers from many obstacles. Most media outlets maintain ties to political parties. Investment in technical and human resources are limited and primitive in Kurdistan's media institutions. Interestingly, the number of newspapers, magazines, and websites increased in the course of 2009, to both positive and negative effect. More than 280 newspapers and magazines and 85 radio and television stations launched between September 2009 and April 2010. But apparently, the increase in quantity was not accompanied by core development in the media industry's legal underpinnings, access to information, or programming innovation.
Violations of journalists' rights have increased, particularly among private and independent media outlets, and private and independent media outlets have suffered different types of attacks and violations. The Kurdistan Institute of Human RIghts (KIHR) recorded 25 violations surrounding the 2009 election season. Moreover, in its 2009 annual report on the Kurdistan journalism environment, KIHR reported 95 different violations, including threats, beatings, confiscation of cameras, and arrests of journalists performing their jobs. These violations took place despite intensive national and international criticism of the conditions of Kurdistan journalists in 2009. The government did not intervene to halt the impositions on journalists' rights; only private and independent media and NGOs reacted. The Kurdistan region's governmental institutions have conducted no serious legal follow-up or investigations of violators, and this remains a major concern.
Although article 35 of the journalism law is in place to protect the freedom of the press, most judges and some security institutions fail to uphold its principles—leading many in the media community to call for a stronger law. At the same time, others complained that the fines and censorship imposed on journalists are too weak.
Given all these realities, media conditions have stagnated in the unsustainable, mixed system range—as reflected in the MSI's score that is nearly identical to last year. The MSI panelists called for the government to adopt a clear, long-term strategy to develop media in Kurdistan, drawing on the expertise of the media community, universities, and NGOs in the media field.
