Iraq news, front pages compared
Crosswire tracks 6 major Iraq news outlets. Preview their homepages side by side below — switch between two, three and four columns, go compact, or translate every page into your language.
The Iraq media landscape on Crosswire
Crosswire lays Iraq's front pages next to one another so you can see which stories lead where, how headlines are framed, and what one outlet foregrounds that another leaves out. All 6 titles tracked in Iraq sit near the editorial centre in our classification, which is common where the press is dominated by public broadcasters and agencies, or where no confident left/right rating was available. Comparison here is less about political line than about which stories each newsroom judges worth the top of the page.
By kind of outlet, the 6 titles break down as 2 digital-native outlets (Iraqi News and 964media), 2 television news channels (Rudaw and Kurdistan24), 1 news agency (Shafaq News) and 1 news portal (BasNews). Crosswire lists no public-service broadcaster for Iraq, so the fixed point in a comparison has to be a wire service or the most widely read daily instead. The wire service tracked here is Shafaq News; agency copy is written to be resold across the spectrum, which makes it the plainest baseline for spotting the framing a newsroom adds on top.
Iraq sits in Türkiye, Iran and Iraq, on Crosswire's Middle East and North Africa hub. By outlets tracked it is 2nd of the 3 countries in Türkiye, Iran and Iraq and 1st of the 20 across the Middle East and North Africa, where the average is 5 outlets per country. Its neighbours in Türkiye, Iran and Iraq with hubs of their own are Türkiye (6) and Iran (5).
Leaning groupings are approximate guides drawn from widely cited media-bias assessments — see the methodology and what the labels can and can't tell you. Counts are taken from the directory as of .
Which are Iraq's main news outlets?
Across Iraq's editorial spectrum, Crosswire currently lists near the center, Iraqi News, Rudaw, BasNews, Shafaq News, Kurdistan24 and 964media. Each outlet below links to a full profile — its facts, editorial leaning and a live front-page preview — and the comparison view above shows any of them side by side.
Iraqi News is an English-language online news outlet covering Iraq and the wider Middle East. It provides reporting on Iraqi politics, security, the economy, and society, along with regional developments, aimed at English-speaking audiences interested in the country. It is among the English-language digital sources focused specifically on Iraqi affairs.
Rudaw is a Kurdish media network based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, operating television and a multilingual news website in Kurdish, Arabic, and English. It covers Kurdish, Iraqi, and regional affairs, and is widely associated with the political establishment of Iraqi Kurdistan.
BasNews is a Kurdish news outlet based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, publishing in Kurdish, Arabic, English, and other languages. It provides coverage of Kurdish, Iraqi, and broader regional news and developments for a multilingual audience, reaching readers in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, and the wider Kurdish diaspora.
Shafaq News is an Iraqi multilingual news agency reporting in Arabic, English and Kurdish. It covers Iraqi and Kurdistan Region politics, security, economy and society, plus Middle East and international affairs.
Kurdistan24 is a Kurdistan Region broadcaster and news site based in Erbil, generally aligned with the Kurdistan Democratic Party. It publishes in six languages, covering Kurdistan and Iraqi politics, economy and culture.
964media (Shabakat 964) is an Iraqi digital news platform reporting from neighborhoods across the country. It publishes in Arabic, Kurdish and English and produces documentary films alongside daily news.
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Reading the news critically
The vocabulary and the method behind these comparisons.