KNN Kurdish Satellite Channel dismissed 51 workers because of its financial crisis. The channel’s DG Abdulrazzaq Sherif, told Press Freedom Advocacy Association that the dispatch covered all offices of the channel, in Suleimaniya, Erbil and Duhouk. And that the current situation pressed the channel into limited resources policy. The manager stated that the dismissed personnel’s rights are in safe hands and that a 4-month payment would be released upon liquidity. He added that the management is trying to provide some of the dismissed cadre similar opportunities in other media bodies that are linked to the party.
From another perspective, KNN correspondent in Erbil, Sheikhawan Ahmad Amin, one of the ten dismissed in Erbil office, said that the main reason is to settle down internal disputes within the party itself.
Amin added that the ones dismissed are non-party members and that they were dismissed without any prior notice and that they haven’t received their salaries since last October. It is to be noticed that KRG recently witnessed the closure of many media bodies because of the financial crisis.
At the time that Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq highly evaluates the impact of the financial crisis upon media operation in Iraq, it demands that they all adhere to valid regulations.
The association declares its readiness to legally represent those journalists in front of the court of labor and demand that all their rights be restored. The Association warns media bodies from dismissing their workers in similar ways that would jeopardize their livelihoods.
