INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Trainer Mirek Wodzik on February 26, 2011 finalized his series of one day workshops for assaish. Of the series of eight, three workshops were canceled because of the unrest in the region. IMCK hopes Wodzik can return to train more members of assaish on how to work with media, as the clashes between press and police of the past weeks have proven these workshops are needed. IMCK will also pass Wodziks advice to the heads of assaish on how to better prevent these incidents in the future.

International trainers Rommert Kruifhof and Robert Baltus came to Iraqi Kurdistan to work with the new team of the website Kirkuk Now on the development of the site. Kruithof will train the new reporters that had been employed since his last visit, Baltus will work on making the team more internet savy. He works as the Head of Social Media for NOS in the Netherlands, and will share his knowledge about making websites attractive for many groups of readers. The site will be launched in April, after a test phase of a month. It will bring independent and reliable news about Kirkuk in the languages of the town: Kurdish, Arabic and Turkmen. Rommert Kruithof will at the same time provide media training for some politicians and CEO's.

IMCK trainer Mirek Wodzik started on February 18, 2011 in Erbil on the second series of workshops for assaish (security police). After the first day, the training again felt the consequences of the unrest in Kurdistan, which led on February 17 to 7 dead protesters in Sulaymaniya. All Kurdish assaish staff was put on alert, in Erbil to guard buildings of the party and party officials. Wodzik trains assaish on how to work with media. The workshops will resume as soon as possible.

Evro and Waar, the two main newspapers in Duhok, should work to become more different to be able to both survive, was the message IMCK senior trainer Judit Neurink brought the newspapers during an evening meeting in Duhok. The designers of the papers have been trained by IMCK, but the training alone is not enough. Editors and designers must work together more closely, with their readers in mind. The papers need to choose target groups, Neurink told designers, editors and Evro's editor in chief gathered in the building of Duhok TV. The meeting touched mainly on practical messures that will help the papers work more professionally, and find new reader groups.

International trainer Timothy Spence started a five day workshop on journalism and PR for staff of Unami and other UN-organisation. In total 18 people attend the workshop that is held in Erbil from February 13 to 17, 2011. Spence is being assisted for part of the time by IMCK senior trainer Judit Neurink. Subjects covered are amongst others how to make a press release that ends up in the media, how to write different styles of journalism, how to make a news item, reportage and opinion piece, and how to make an interview.

With a visit of the German consul in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Stefan Bantle, IMCK international trainer Mirek Wodzik finished a first series of workshops for assaish. On February 12, 2011 he instructed a group of young policemen in Erbil how to deal with media. Ako Mohammed, the editor in chief of Rudaw, joined the workshop to talk to the assaish members about the problems between press and police. Mohammed took over from AP photographer Yahya Barzinji, who took this role in the workshops Mirek conducted in the past 12 days. They did workshops in Sulaymaniya, Rania, Kalar, Halabja and Erbil, and talked to assaish members of Chamchamal and to officers in the IMCK mediacentre in Sulaymaniya. Mirek will return shortly for a series of workshops on working with media for the assaish in Erbil, and possibly in Duhok. The series is possible with funding of the Open Society Institute.

IMCK started on February 7 a design training for two of the main newspapers in Duhok . Frank Hijlkema is providing a 5-day workshop for Waar and Evro, both daily newspapers. On Thursday, February 10, there will be a meeting with the designers and the editors-in-chief to discuss the workshop and how they can improve their newspaper.

IMCK trainer and photographer Soran Naksbendi trained reporters in Kirkuk on how to make pictures that can be used for the new Kirkuk newssite IMCK is setting up. The reporters were taught how to make pictures that tell a story, and were informed on some technical issues concerning photography. The training in Kirkuk lasted two days and ended on February 4, 2011.

In Erbil, at the facilities of Agef, IMCK trainers Khidher Domle and Judit Neurink worked with a group of mediapeople from Kurdish ministries on how to get their information to the media. The workshop of one morning took place on February 3 as part of a series of training for spokesmen by Agef. Domle and Neurink informed the group how journalists work, what they will do to get information and how they can best be informed. They stressed that a good relationship between media offices of the government and the press is essential to provide the Kurdish people with the information that they should have.

The workshops IMCK organized for the Sulaymania security police (Asaish) were cancelled until further notice due to safety precautions in the city. After two days Mirek Wodzik was able to resume his training. Wodzik will provide one-day workshops on how the police should work with media. During the 20 workshops in total, the trainer will discuss the role press, police and politicians in a democracy. Yahya Barzinji, Kurdish journalist, working for the independent newspaper Awena, will talk about the role of the journalists. Four workshops will be done in Sulaymania city, the rest of the days the trainer will go to different places of Sulaymania province, as Halabja, Rania and Kalar. Ten workshops will take place in Erbil. This training is funded by the Open Society Institute