Effects of Digital Media on Professional Objectivity: The Coalition between Journalists and Politicians in the Kurdistan Region, as an Example

What is it about?

This study focuses on the relationship between journalists and politicians in the post-conflict society of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the types of relationships between them and their role in expanding or restricting freedoms of expression and the press. Knowledge of the effects of digital media on professional objectivity; the main purpose of this research is to collect data from the qualitative method and interview procedures with five journalists and two media observers. Also, the editors of digital media: Dromedia, MojoKurd, Rachlaken, 7Roj, NahaNews with two representatives of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate and Metro Center for Protection of Journalists' Rights; They were interviewed and then thematic content analysis procedure was used to assess their views. Finally, this study concluded that the relationship between journalists and politicians in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region has changed from “friendship” to “alliance”. At the same time, the impact of relationships between journalists and politicians; it has enabled accurate information to be obtained and the basis for verifying distorted information and false news. Sometimes the alliance between journalists and politicians has had a negative impact on professional objectivity and other criteria of professional media ethics. Therefore, the dominance of politicians over freedoms of expression and the journalism is at a high level, because the alliance of interests between journalists and politicians has developed dangerously. Now a lot of Kurdish media in general and digital media in particular; without the continued support of politicians, they cannot survive.

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