Journalism gives ‘front row seat to history’: CNN Correspondent

International Correspondent at CNN, Jomana Karadsheh, returned to Erbil this month and spoke to Rudaw’s Nma Nabaz about her experience as a journalist covering the Middle East for over two decades.

Hailing from Jordan, Karadsheh launched her career at CNN’s Baghdad bureau where she covered the fall of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. She reluctantly became “the story” in 2011 when she was part of a group of journalists held hostage at a hotel in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. However, she says that telling the story of the suffering endured by the Yazidi people is “one of the hardest things” she covered in her career. 

She also shared the challenges she has faced as a woman covering conflict on the battleground, advising other female journalists to follow their dreams and to “not take no for an answer.” Karadsheh said that she views her career as a passion rather than a job, and while journalism may not change the world, it does impact the lives of many people by telling their stories.  

“It’s a privilege to be a journalist and to tell the stories to so many people around the world.”

Karadsheh returned to the Kurdistan Region to take part in the courses provided by the CNN Academy in Erbil where she shared her experience and the “CNN way of doing things” with aspiring journalists.