Postconflict media reform: The CHMK 10-Year Strategic Policy Roadmap for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (2026–36)

Post-conflict media reform environments often falter due to the uncritical application of Eurocentric regulatory frameworks. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), an analogue-era legal framework, anchored by Journalism Law No. 35 of 2007, fails to address modern digital challenges, including platform monopolies, algorithmic curation and opaque media ownership. To tackle these structural vulnerabilities, the Kurdish Media Watchdog (CHMK) convened the 3rd round of the CHMK National Forum for Media Reform at SOAS University of London on 8–9 July 2026. This gathering produced the CHMK 10-Year Strategic Policy Roadmap (2026–2036), a decolonized masterplan for democratic media governance and structural reform. Developed alongside national and international partners, including the UK Media Reform Coalition (MRC), Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre (GLMRC), the Journal of Digital Media & Policy ( JDMP ), the Kanga Educational Foundation (KEF) and the Vision Agency for International Development (VisionAID), the roadmap bridges empirical research with actionable policy. Submitted to KRI governing bodies and civil society, it offers a sustainable model for media sovereignty in the digital age.