INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Eddy van Wessel stayed for a second training in Kirkuk, where he worked with a group of eleven journalists on how to make a photo story on illegal immigration. The workshop was a cooperation between IMCK and STATT, to inform journalists about the issues concerning (illegal) immigration. The training started on September 27, 2012 at the offices of the Youth Media Centre in Kirkuk. For STATT, Hazhar Taha and Goran Sabah gave the participants information about illegal immigration, statistics and consequenses of immigration for the immigrants and their families, while Van Wessel focused on the photo story and gave technical advice to the photographers. For photo's of the workshops see Facebook . They, and others, are invited to submit their photo stories for a prize and a place at a special exhibition in December in Erbil that STATT and IMCK will organize in coordination with the KRG Minister of Culture. The best three photo stories on illegal immigration will be part of the exh

Kirkuk needs better photographers. That is why international photographer Eddy van Wessel started a three day workshop on 'Telling a story in a picture' for photographers in Kirkuk. The workshop started on September 23 and is taking place at the Save the Children building in Kirkuk, with twelve participants from different backgrounds. Photo's of the workshop can be found on Facebook . Van Wessel has already trained a number of times for IMCK in Iraq. He is a prize winning photographer from the Netherlands, who has worked in war zones, for instance in Iraq and recently in Syria. He uses his material and that of others for the training. A second photography training, on making photo stories about illegal immigration, will take place from September 26 in Kirkuk, again with Van Wessel as the trainer.

,,I've seen monuments with bullet holes, because people practiced on them, or others where they sprayed  paint on it'', said the Italian archaeology professor Mario Fales to a group of 20 journalists in Duhok. He spoke during the workshop on National Heritage that IMCK organised on September 20, 2012, to inform journalists about the importance of preserving the heritage. Without a past no present, his message was. The day was held in the still empty Archaeology Museum in Duhok and was opened by its director, Dr Hassan Ahmed Qassim, who spoke of new discoveries done during excavations in the city. The group was then shown around at one of the excavation sites, Shindogha, dated 3000 years back. IMCK senior trainer Khidher Domle led the day and helped the participants to think of ways to report about the subject. More pictures of the day on Facebook

'Normally we ask people to turn Facebook off when we are starting a training, today I ask you: please turn it on'. IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz started off the three day training on Social Media in Halabja today with this cheerful message. It is a popular training, as it has been given seven times before. Attending journalists will learn about various Social Media, the most attention goes to Facebook and twitter. Social Media is a big value for journalists as it can help them find information, spread information and enlarge their network. IMCK organizes this training in Halabja in close cooperation with the Kurdish Arts and Literature Society. More photos of today's training can be found on Facebook .

Proudly we present (the biggest part of) the group of journalists from Darbandikhan who successfully joined our 3 days training on Features, Storytelling and Investigative Journalism. Today they received their certificates. The trainer is Khaled Sulaiman (lead trainer) and the training was a cooperation with the local youth activities development center. We hope to be back in Darbandikhan again soon.  More pictures of this 3 days training can be found on Facebook .

IMCK has broadened her horizon by starting a training in Darbandikhan, hopefully the first of many. Journalists from the Darbandikhan area kicked off today with a three day training in Features, storytelling and investigating journalism. The training is led by our lead trainer Khaled Sulaiman and hosted in cooperation with the youth activities developing center in Darbandikhan.  More pictures to be found on facebook .

The Iraqi first lady, Hero Khan Ibrahim, and the German Consul in Erbil, Rolf Ulrich, took part in the closing ceremony for the 'Women start in journalism'-course of IMCK. On September 6, 2012, thirteen young women from Sulaymaniya and surroundings were given their certificates after finishing the six weeks course in basic journalism. The ceremony took place at the Rewan Hall in Sulaymaniya. Hero Khan was presented with a copy of the newspaper the women made during the course, and a news program that they made was shown. Mr Ulrich stressed in his speech to the participants the need for women to work in journalism in Kurdistan and to report on common subjects, as they will notice different details than their male colleagues. The ceremony finalized six weeks of training in which print, internet and TV were covered. Trainers were Khaled Sulaiman (lead trainer), Ako Mohammed and Shwan Mohammed (print), Salam Ibrahim and Mustafa Qais (TV), Sardasht Aziz (internet, design), Am

KirkukNow has over 250.000 pageviews every month. We are so proud! It is time to take the website to a new level by adding videos. To do that… KirkukNow needs your help. We created a crowdfunding-project on Nieuwspost .   Please take a look at it, support and spread the word. It is in Dutch, but we’d be more than happy to translate, if you want an English version, email to imcknine@gmail.com. Let’s make sure the people in Kirkuk get the independent news they deserve.

Thinking about Iraq and Kurdistan, many people will think about oil, desert, Saddam Hoessein and more. But there are so many other fields to pay attention to. One of them is environment. To create awareness about this, about nature, IMCK organises a few one day trainings in close cooperation with Nature Iraq. Today twelve journalists joined our training in Erbil. The day started off with an interactive presentation by Azzam Alwash, founder and president of the board of Nature Iraq: while he is giving the journalists food for thought and debate, the screen behind him shows amongst other things, Kurdisch mountains with snow on top and a deep canyon with a fast flowing river. Today's trainer is Xdir Domle, journalist and IMCK senior trainer. More pictures of today's training can be found on Facebook .

The group of young female starters arrived enthusiastically this morning to continue their six week course in basic journalism. The last two weeks they had trainings in TV; using the camera, editing, making a news item. This week is all about general knowledge, starting with local economy. The trainers are Khaled Sulaiman, our lead trainer and Shwan Mohammed, journalist. Today they are supported by an expert on local economy, Faisal Ali. This week is the sixth and last week of the course. There will be a closing and certificate ceremony on Thursday. More pictures of today's training can be found on Facebook .

Dams and water issues are the main topics in today's workshop. In close cooperation with Nature Iraq IMCK wants to organize four one day trainings. The main goal is to inform journalists, so they can report about environmental issues.  Trainer Xdir Domle and expert Azzam Alwash Today's trainer is Xdir Domle, journalist and IMCK senior trainer. The training started of with a interactive presentation by expert Azzam Alwash, founder of Nature Iraq and now president of the board. The next one day training will be tomorrow in Erbil. More photos of the course can be found on Facebook .