INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

The editors-in-chief of the newspapers Hawlati , Awena , Aso , Roshnama and Komal had a meeting with Judit Neurink at the IMCK office on March 31. The main subject was reporting before and during the elections. All agreed that the reporting should be better during the local elections in October 2010 and they decided on making an agreement. IMCK will, together with the editors-in-chief make a code of ethics for reporting during elections and different newspapers and eventually other media outlets will be invited to join this agreement.

Nafiss Nia is back in Kurdistan to give her third training at Kurdsat TV. This time she will give a 7-day training about TV directing for eight TV makers of the channel. Nafiss will give the trainees practical and general knowledge on how to direct a film in TV world. Directing is all about managing and a good manager is always a good start for a good program. During the training they are going to focus on various steps that a director has to take in order to make a good TV film /program whether it is a documentary, fiction or even a TV program.

Gijs Wanders started on March 15 his 4-day training on interview and presentation for 8 participants from Iraqi TV-channels. They came from the south of Iraq to Erbil. Together with co-trainer Xidr Domle he will give them information on how to interview a guest, the use of body language, tone voice and more. After the training the participants should be able to get a good message across on TV.

Gregor Niessen ,an expert on capacity building for political parties and NGO ’s started on March 15 a 5-day training for 24 women from the Kurdish Democratic Party ( KDP . The other days he will train together with Sabina Gazic , member of the Amsterdam City Council. They will make the women more aware of the political process and encourage them to strive to reach top positions within the KDP . They will talk with them about how to get this more visible role and how to get trough the ceiling.

'How the press is covering the Iraqi elections' is the title of a guest lecture IMCK director Judit Neurink held at the American University in Iraq, in Sulaymaniya. On March 3, four days before the parliamentary elections in Iraq, she spoke to students at the AUI about the results of the elections for media in Iraqi Kurdistan. The party press is only reporting for the own group, and seems not interested in content, Neurink said. Readers and viewers need to consult different media to get an idea about party lines and programs, although none of them seem to take very much interest in the plans and promises of the parties. Advertisement and content are completely mixed, party media are part of the propaganda machines for the parties. TV-channels even start to look alike showing images of their partying supporters every night.