Soran Rashid
Soran Rashid joined CPJ as a Kurdish consultant in February 2022, before becoming a MENA correspondent in June 2024. Rashid continues working in journalism, contributing as an editor to multiple media outlets in Iraq. Before joining CPJ, Rashid served as the newsroom manager at NRT TV, one of the most-watched channels in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, until 2018. He also held the position of editor-in-chief at NasKurd and led digital media operations at Zoom News TV. With a focus on politics, wars, conflicts, and environmental issues, Rashid has built a reputation for delivering in-depth coverage of complex topics across the region.
How Middle East journalists report during internet blackouts
Iran is now in the grip of the longest internet blackout in its history, a near-total shutdown that has stretched more than 30 days and reduced connectivity to almost zero. Imposed amid war and unrest, the sweeping, government-imposed blackout has effectively sealed off the country, cutting journalists’ access to sources and audiences, and blocking their…
A year after Assad’s fall, Syrian journalists enjoy freedom but also new risks
One year after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, whose family ruled Syria through iron and fire for five decades, journalists say they enjoy more freedom than ever but also uncertainty in the face of conflict as they wait for the introduction of new media laws. CPJ’s interviews with 20 journalists and press groups found conditions…
Surging Israeli settler violence hurts West Bank journalists
With settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank spiking, journalists are also facing more frequent and severe attacks. So far in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 11 attack incidents involving at least 23 Palestinian and international journalists by Israeli settlers — some alongside soldiers — compared with one attack on…
Israeli forces chase, hold, and shoot at journalists in southern Syria
Journalists in southern Syria are being chased, detained and intimidated by live fire by members of the Israeli Defense Forces, according to reporters who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The months-long escalation of harassment raises concerns about press freedom and has sometimes forced journalists to play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek to protect…
Journalists killed, wounded, media office damaged in Syria violence
Journalists were killed, wounded, shot at, and blocked from entering the southern Syrian city of Sweida as sectarian violence spread across the region last week, according to multiple journalists who spoke to CPJ. An Israeli airstrike also damaged a media outlet in Damascus. “The violence against journalists in Sweida — including injuries, intimidation, and the…
In Syria, 3 news crews shot at, assaulted while covering deadly clashes
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by multiple attacks on journalists reporting on Syria’s worst clashes since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, including bullets being fired at two news teams’ cars, with one journalist shot in the leg, and the assault and detention of a third crew. “We are appalled by the violence meted out…
Dozens of Iraqi Kurdistan journalists teargassed, arrested, raided over protest
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kurdistan security forces’ assault on 12 news crews covering a February 9 protest by teachers and other public employees over unpaid salaries, which resulted in at least 22 journalists teargassed, two arrested, and a television station raided. “The aggressive treatment meted out to journalists by Erbil security…