INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz started the last of a series of workshops on Social Media for Journalists. On May 29, 2012, he started a 3 day workshop for journalists from Soran and surroundings, in the Conference and Occasions Hall in Soran. In total 17 journalists participated. The workshops is the final one in a series of seven organised by IMCK in cooperation with Irex all over Iraqi Kurdistan. See our Facebook for more pictures.

Kirkuki journalists started on May 22, 2012 on a 3 day workshop to learn how to use social media in their profession. IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz will be training them at the Xandan hall in Kirkuk, co-trainer is Julie Adnan. This is the sixth workshop in a project of IMCK and Irex. The last one of this series is planned for end of May in Soran.

IMCK and Shell cooperated on their first project in Basrah. At the University of Basrah international photographer Eddy van Wessel on May 20, 2012 started a 3 day workshop on photography. The main theme of the workshop was the photo story, focusing on subjects like environment and the Shatt al Arab. Some 15 photographers took part in the workshop, that will run until May 22.

Journalists in Kalar on May 17, 2012 started a 3-day workshop on the use of Social Media for journalists. IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz will teach them (among others) in three days how they can use different social media and internet to find news and information, and to communicate with colleagues. The workshop is part of a series that IMCK is organizing all over Iraqi Kurdistan with the support of Irex.

International trainer Marco Visser works with the staff of KirkukNow  to update the website where needed. He spends two days with the editors of the site, starting on May 16, 2012. Visser helped in 2011 to set up the website, which is informing all Kirkuki's about what goes on in their city. The site publishes news about the Kirkuki's in the different languages of the city, plus English. The website is amongst others supported by Hivos and the Arab Human Rights Foundation.

International trainer Eddy van Wessel briefed colleagues in Baghdad about working in difficult environments. He worked amongst others in Afghanistan and Chechnya. A discussion was started about the ethics of working in dangerous places, and about making pictures that are unsellable because of their violent or gruesome images. The evening session in the office of the newspaper Sabah al Jedid on  May 15, 2012 was attended by about ten journalists from different media outlets in Baghdad.

International trainer Dan Mason started on May 14, 2012 a three day training on Social Media for Journalists. He stands in for Marco Visser, who fell ill. Mason has trained on many subjects all over the world, and came to  Iraq for the second time this year. Fourteen participants joined the training at the training hall of the IMCK, which is one of a series conducted with support of Irex. More pictures on Facebook .

International photographer Eddy van Wessel took his workshop on photo stories to Baghdad. On May 13, 2012 he started a 3 day workshop for ten participants from different media from all over Baghdad. All participants are experienced photographers. The workshop is organised in cooperation with the newspaper Sabah al Jedid, and is taking place in the office of the newspaper in Baghdad.

IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz started a three day workshop on Social Media for Journalists in Rania, on May 13, 2012. In total twenty participants joined him at the Library in Rania. The workshop is part of a series of workshops on the subject that IMCK is organising with the support of Irex.

On May 9, the photography workshop on illegal immigration IMCK organized in Sulaymaniyah in cooperation with STATT has been finalized. It was the first step in the project on illegal immigration. In total eleven participants received a certificate issued by IMCK. The trainer was Eddy van Wessel, a Dutch photographer who has won international prizes. See the movie about the workshop See our Facebook for pictures and more information about other workshops.

International trainer Marco Visser on May 9, 2012 started the second of his 3-day workshops on Social Media for Journalists. In Duhok twelve participants joined him, all journalists from different media. Co-trainer was Sardasht Aziz (picture). The training took place in the training space of the Kurdistan Civil Rights Organisation. The workshop is part of a series that IMCK is organising with support of Irex.

May 8 and 9, IMCK will start in cooperation with STATT a photography workshop on illegal immigration in Sulaymaniya. Many young people in Iraqi Kurdistan want to leave the country. But as visas are hard to come by, many use smugglers and buy passports with a visa. This illegal immigration has many bad consequences. Therefore IMCK wants to inform Kurdish photographers, journalists and bloggers about the problems, and organize a documentary festival and a photo exhibition on the subject. The photography workshop will be the first step in the project on illegal immigration for Kurdish media. Photographers have been invited to participate on how to make a good photo story. Eddy van Wessel , a Dutch photographer who has won international prizes, will come to work with fifteen participants from Iraqi Kurdistan. IMCK tries to improve the quality of the media in Iraq. STATT will be involved by providing experts on illegal immigration, who will provide the background

On 6 May 2012, IMCK started with a training on social media for journalists in Iraq. Social media are conquering the Middle East - and also Iraq . After the start of the demonstrations of 2011 many young people started using Facebook. Journalists are also an active group on the social network website. Still Iraqi journalists use social media mostly privately, exchanging opinions, Youtube links and pictures. Yet the power of social media for journalists lies in extending ones network, gathering news and sources, and simply be more connected to the world. The professional use of social media has not yet found ground in Iraq. Twitter for example, popular elsewhere in the world and in many ways regarded a useful for journalists, has hardly entered the Iraqi (journalists) scene yet. Therefore IMCK wants to train Iraqi journalists to become more Internet savvy. The journalists will learn how to work with sources that are available online, become more modern in their way to find stories

30 April 2012. IMCK-director Judit Neurink paid a two day visit to Basrah, the south of Iraq. The goal of the trip was two sided. The Royal Dutch Shell company invited IMCK for a meeting together with fifteen journalists and experts of Shell. The oil-company gave presentations on the history of Shell in Iraq, the different contracts that have been signed, the environment, and on the relationship between the company and the consumer. The other reason is that IMCK is talking with Shell about a future cooperation. Together with Shell, IMCK wants to improve the knowledge of journalists in Iraq on oil and gas. Previously, IMCK gave workshops in Erbil on natural resources to journalists. The participants published stories on the website Iraqi Treasures . The media in Iraq are developing slowly and journalists do not cover all subjects that are important for people in a developing democracy. One of these subjects are oil and gas. For an oil rich country like Iraq, oil is hardly a

After two successful workshops in Sulaymaniya about the national heritage in Iraq, IMCK organized a third one in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan. The goal of the course was to inform a group of journalists about the necessity to raise awareness among the Iraqi population for the preservation of the national heritage. It is of great importance that journalists have a better understanding of the problems that historical sites in Iraq face and how institutions try to preserve artefacts. The participants visited the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage and attended a lecture by senior-trainer Khidher Domle in the IMCK training hall. National heritage Iraq has one of the oldest cultural histories in the world. Iraq is where the Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations were, whose legacy went on to influence and shape the civilizations of the Old World. Therefore Iraq has a very rich heritage. Ashur , Hatra , and the archaeological city of Samarra are three