INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

February 29th International trainer Rommert Kruidhof from the Netherlands started training officials of the Kurdistan Democratic Party on their presentation in the media. His training contained very practical exercises in how to communicate with media-reporters and in what way to present oneself professionally. The training took place for two days in Erbil, a stronghold of the KDP.

Social media have become an important part of communications on different levels. That is the reason IMCK-trainer Sardasht Aziz started a 3 day training for the Popular and Vocational Organisations board of KDP, on February 21, 2012 in the training hall of the Safeer Hotel in Erbil. Participants are involved in communicating between KDP organisations like the students union, the youth and the women union, and their members. They will learn that Facebook, Twitter and different Google services can also be used for this communication. Time will also be used to inform the participants about safety on the internet, as hacking is a big problem in Iraqi Kurdistan. See Facebook for more pictures

How presenters look on TV, is as important as lights and camerawork. For that reason, Dutch make-up specialist Tine van Oorschot started on February 20, 2012 a 5 day on the job workshop for Kurdsat on the subject. She trains the five visagists at Kurdsat to apply the make-up for presenters in the news and other programs in a more professional way. Van Oorschot worked in the Netherlands for the main broadcaster NOS and for regional TV stations, set up education for visagists in the Netherlands and has trained extensively on the subject. See here for more pictures of the training on Facebook

Editors in chief of Kurdish media and their representatives met at the Culture Cafe in Sulaymaniya to discuss how to keep journalists safe during demonstrations. IMCK organised the session on February 15, 2012 to reduce incidents that involve journalists, with in mind the expected protests to remember the unrest that started on February 17 of last year in Sulaymaniya. Last year almost 300 incidents involving journalists were reported - the real number is higher, as even during the meeting journalists reported incidents that they had not mentioned before. Both the Kurdistan Syndicate of Journalists and the Metro Centre Defending Journalists were present. IMCK implored editors in chief to instruct their journalists not to be part of demonstrations, but to stay out and report from the side lines. It also produced special orange PRESS jackets to make journalists more visible during unrest, so they will not become the target of violence by police, as happened in the past. Inte

International trainer Elin Wyn returned to Kurdistan to conduct a second workshop for IMCK's post graduate training Media bo Khalk (People for People). This time she teaches the basics of radiomaking. The five day workshop started on February 10, 2012 and involves all the present students of Media bo Khalk. The workshop is the result of the cooperation between IMCK and the Falmouth College University, which is involved in improving the level of the post graduate training.

International trainer Dan Mason on February 10, 2012 started a 3 day workshop on marketing with Kurdistani Nwe, the newspaper of one of the two main Kurdish parties PUK. Mason works with the management, editor in chief and the editors on making the paper attractive for bigger target groups and thus making it more interesting for advertisers. The training takes place in the offices of Kurdistani Nwe. Mason is a seasoned British journalist, who has worked for different media, also as an editor in chief, and who has trained extensively all over the world, mainly for the Reuters/Thomson Foundation.

Al Jazeera reporter Mustafa Zriad on Saturday February 4, 2012 started a five day workshop for IMCK and DC4MF on how to make a reportage for TV. He trains 15 young Iraqi journalists with a few years of experience in TV making. The training takes place in Erbil, at the Safeer Hotel. Zriad is repeating a workshop he conducted in 2012 for Iraqi Kurdistan, and again this is a project by IMCK in coordination with the Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DC4MF). It targets mainly journalists from Arabic Iraq. The aim of the training is to improve the quality of TV news in Iraq, so it will better inform the Iraqi people.