Media watchdog lambasts KRG spox for attack on Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A local press freedom monitor on Wednesday censured a Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) spokesperson for verbally “attacking” media outlets, after he took aim at Rudaw Media Network and threatened other media outlets, warning that his conduct signals a growing “threat to press freedom” in the Kurdistan Region.
"It is not the spokesperson's job to use his press conferences to attack or discriminate against [media outlets],” said the Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy in a statement released shortly after the remarks by Peshawa Hawramani.
"It is not his job to turn [the press conference] into a classroom to give lectures on journalistic ethics," the statement added.
The controversy unfolded when a reporter from Sulaimani-based Channel 8 asked Hawramani why Rudaw was barred from covering the presser.
Hawramani lashed out, accusing Rudaw of unprofessionalism and labeling it a “misleading” outlet.
He then warned the Channel 8 reporter that the outlet he’s affiliated with could also be banned in the future if it fails to maintain good ties with the spokesperson.
The Metro Center criticized Hawramani’s remarks toward Rudaw and Channel 8 as indicative of “an increase in obstacles to freedom of the press, access to information.” The monitor further censured the comments as “a violation of the press law.”
The press freedom’s monitor further characterized the KRG spokesperson’s remarks as “a threat to all media outlets that are forced to work or cover the [Kurdistan Regional] Government's news per the spokesperson's professional standards.”
Rudaw was invited to the press conference, but its reporter was not let in. Rudaw has not been allowed to any of Hawramani's press conferences for over the three years.
Rudaw Media Network, headquartered in the Kurdistan Region capital city Erbil, is a leading Kurdish media outlet that delivers news and analysis on Kurdistan Region and world via its 24-hour satellite TV channel, digital media, radio and research center. It also publishes content in Sorani and Kurmanji dialects of Kurdish, as well as Arabic, English and Turkish on its website.
Across its platforms - TV, radio, website, and mobile app - Rudaw maintains a daily audience of more than one million viewers and listeners. Its programs during the holy month of Ramadan 2025 amassed over 300 million views.
It also has extensive reach among social media users in the Kurdistan Region and among the Kurdish diaspora.
Rudaw's commitment to high-quality, impactful journalism has earned it several honors.
Rudaw has tens of millions of organic social media followers, surpassing all other Kurdish media outlets, and beyond in the region.
In 2024 as well, Rudaw won seven Telly Awards for several documentaries and programs, alongside a highly sought-after Webby People's Award for its digital strategy.
The network won the Gold Stevie Award for Media & Entertainment Company of the Year in 2023, followed by another Gold Stevie in 2025 for its program “Unfinished Stories” in the Best News and Politics Program category.
In 2024, Rudaw received a third Gold Stevie for its powerful documentary “A Year of War,” which chronicled the Ukraine conflict. That same year, the outlet won seven Telly Awards for several documentaries and programs, alongside a highly sought-after Webby People's Award for excellence in its digital strategy.
Rudaw’s Washington DC bureau chief, Diyar Kurda, has also received the prestigious Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA (AFPC-USA) award in 2024, recognizing him as one of the top international reporters in the United States.
It is worth noting that Hawramani himself was once part of Rudaw. He worked as an anchor at the outlet from 2013 to 2018, the year he secured a seat at the Kurdistan Region legislature on the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) list.
Hawramani singling out Rudaw drew condemnation among Kurdish users across social media platforms, who characterized his act as contradictory to the freedom of the press.