INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Some 200 future officers in Assaish in Erbil on Sunday December 18, 2011 were briefed by IMCK on the role of the media in connection to their own work. IMCK senior trainer (and director) Judit Neurink talked to three groups of students at the end of their six month training to become officers about the relation between media and  police in a democracy. She used real situations to inform them on possible confrontations, and how to handle situations when press is involved. Main message of the lecture was that journalists by law have the right to collect information, and in a democracy are working to inform the people. These lectures in the future will become part of the six month course for officers in Erbil assaish.

Reporters of Kirkuk Now on December 15, 2011 were offered a day of training in the training hall of IMCK in Sulaymaniya. In the morning IMCK senior trainer (and director) Judit Neurink worked with them on the questions of 'what is news', 'what news is interesting for the readers of KirkukNow.com' and 'which sources do you use to make a good item for the site'. In the afternoon photographer and photo-editor Julie Adnan informed them on the use of pictures. What can you do with pictures on the internet, what not? What is copyright? She was assisted by Nwenar Fatih, who is an editor and photographer for KirkukNow.

Communications director Diego Perez from Shell Iraq informed participants of the Natural Resources Workshop in Erbil on details about the work of Shell in Iraq, oil contracts and other interesting details. The workshop, which is a project of IMCK and NPA, runs for five days. Twenty journalists from all over Iraq take part, of whom about half women.

IMCK and Norwegian Peoples Aid started on December 10, 2011 the second of three workshops on Natural Resources. The training lasts five days and takes place in the Safeer Hotel in Erbil. From the first group of thirty participants, twenty were selected to take part. Trainers are James Gavin, an expert in reporting on oil and economics, and IMCK co-trainer Kholoud Alamary. Experts are invited in the mornings to inform the journalists about the subjects related to oil and water. Afternoons are spent on writing stories and getting information on how to improve journalistic skills. The best stories will be edited and published on the 'Iraqi Treasures' website opened for this project. Apart from IMCK and NPA, also Mesalah and Kirkuk Journalists Group are involved in the project. A third workshop is planned for March.