KNN+ (Kurdish News Network) was founded in 2008 as a subsidiary of the Wusha Corporation, an independent Kurdish media group, and first started broadcasting on the 31st of December 2008. However, KNN+ reports extensively on the economy, politics, sport, culture and the arts. News updates are supplemented by in-depth interviews with prominent Kurdish politicians and thinkers. KNN+ produces a wide variety of documentaries and local-interest programmes, and adapt foreign programming for Kurdish viewers. The channel is headquartered in Slemani, Iraqi Kurdistan, and employs over 160 people in its offices from across the region. KNN+ has a network of correspondents throughout Kurdistan and Iraq, as well as permanent local offices in Erbil (Hawler) and Kirkuk. KNN+ is unique in Kurdistan in that it is the only news channel not under the direct control of one of the major political parties in the region, and as such is the only televised media outlet which can be considered fully independent and truly objective in the selection of its material and its reporting. One of the major repercussions of the domination of media that are run by some political parties is that they only broadcast news related to government activity and their policies in a positive light. Conversely, KNN+ seeks to give a more balanced presentation of the events and in-depth analyses in the region through addressing the negative aspects of the system, instead of merely highlighting the positives. The channel does, though, conform to the wider agenda of the Wusha Corporation, which is to address the inequalities and barriers and then to reform in the Kurdistan region. KNN's aim is to promote political, educational, intellectual, social and economic reform to better serve the Kurdish people. The channel attempts to address the aforementioned problems in order to empower Kurdish citizens to move towards a more democratic state and society. KNN's philosophy is based on the assertion that freedom of expression is a right and not a privilege; therefore, seeks to be both an information provider- a medium for people to express their views- and a public arena in which debate is encouraged rather than suppressed.
