Before the revolution, the Kurdish media in Syria were at the service of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and private ownership of media outlets was forbidden. There was no freedom of expression in the mainstream media. As a result, journalists, oppositionists and intellectuals created publications to express their different opinions and inclinations.
Following the Arab Spring, and after Western media outlets helped unveil what was really going on and spread the news, social media pages were the best source of information on current events.
In the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, media organizations were weak and not able to wage targeted media wars. But after armed and Islamic groups invaded areas of Iraqi Kurdistan and the government issued a press law in 2007, media outlets and organizations such as Rudaw, Kurdsat and KNN started focusing on these events and the parallel emergence of ideological groups opposing the freedom to do so. Kurdish media outlets documented this phenomenon, especially after the "purification" carried out by armed groups in the region such as the Islamic State (IS).
Bhutan Tahsin, head of Bas News in Erbil, has worked as a journalist for several years. Bas News, which covers Kurdish news, now focuses on spreading awareness and deterring IS' media attacks.
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