INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

IMCK organised on April 28 a seminar on reporting before, during and after elections for Kurdish journalists. The seminar, which took the whole morning, was part of the civil journalism training for parliamentary reporters held in Irbil from April 21-28. Apart from the participants to the workshop, other journalists were invited to the main hall at Aras Publishing House in Irbil. Three Dutch journalists (Hans Otte, Milja de Zwart and Roel Geeraedts) talked to their Kurdish colleagues about their experiences with reporting on elections, and gave them some ideas on how to get politicians to use the media to get their plans and ideas to the voters. Media could get politicians and voters into contact by traveling around the country in a special bus, or even a Hummer. Or by organising debates between politicians. The main message of the morning was to get politicians to talk about content, about their plans, in stead of being used for fights between them and for slanging matches. The works

Three Dutch parliamentary reporters came to Irbil to help their Kurdish colleagues to extend their knowledge on how to report on politics and on the parliament. Hans Otte, Milja de Zwart and Roel Geeraedts all worked in this field for years. Otte is leading the training, as he did a civil journalism training with IMCK last year. With the elections coming the three Dutch reporters also try to teach colleagues in Kurdistan how to inform people to help them cast their votes. In Irbil, at the building of Aras Publishing, on April 21 they started a workshop of 7 days with 3 groups of journalists: working in print, radio and TV. Co-trainers are Xdir Domle, Shwan Muhamed and Ako Mohammed. The project is part of a project IMCK has started to create more understanding between reporters and politicians, and is partly funded by the American reconstruction fund.

IMCK finally received the offial permit from the Kurdish Ministry of Interior, dated April 7, 2009. After a year of training and consulting for media, it has officially become a Kurdish ngo. IMCK is working from its main office in Sulaymaniya for the whole of Iraq. Soon workshops will be organised not only in the Kurdish region of Iraq, but also outside, in Baghdad and other Iraqi towns where safety for the trainers and the participants can be guaranteed.

Environment is important, but does not get the attention it should in Kurdistan because the region has so many other problems, Kaka Ibrahim said, the director of the department of Planning at the Environment Ministry in Irbil. IMCK-trainer Andre van der Vlugt visited him before starting a workshop Environment for Journalists in the Kurdish capital. Ibrahim agreed that climate change is the main issue of the moment and the future, but indicated his ministry can only collect information and share it with the ministers and the public. 'And politicians do not listen.' Andre van der Vlugt is a former journalist who is now working for the international environmental organisation Greenpeace. On April 14 he started a 5 day workshop at the training of IWPR in Irbil for 15 journalists of print, radio and TV. Partner organisation is Media Development Organisation in Irbil.

Presentors, editor and journalists at Kurdsat TV in Sulaymaniya on April 9 finished a five day workshop on interviewing and presenting. Dutch TV-reporter and actor Paul Grijpma also practised with them how to make a reportage and a good voice-over. ,,You are lucky in Kurdistan, to have news on every street corner'', Grijpma told his students, ,,I wish we had that in Holland too!'' His workshop was very practical, with a lot of exercises and almost real life situations. All ten participants succesfully practised the 'stand-upper', inside and on the spot, always with the camera running and to be commented on afterwards.

Dutch lawyer Frank van Haren returned to Kurdistan for a transparency of government training in Duhok. From March 28 till April 5 he did two workshops, one for 15 journalists and one for 18 lawyers and politicians from KDP. IMCK is organising these workshops to increase the trust between press and politicians. He advised journalists to create a network with politicians they can contact to check facts, and he advised politicians to do the same with journalists they can contact to get their story out. Politicians should not be afraid of journalists. They should react to criticism; this is the way to inform the people, Van Haren said. ,,By reacting they can explain why a decision was made, or why criticism is not reasonable.'' Politicians should learn how they can also use journalists to get their message to the (potential) voters, also through independent media. Van Haren also had a meeting with judges, whom he advised to make a database of their verdicts. This should be open to