INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Hawlati was the last newspaper Dutch trainer Nynke La Porte visited during her 6 day tour of Kurdish media for IMCK. She informed her Kurdish colleagues on how to report during and before elections, especially when a new opposition group joins the election race. She finished her tour on June 11. Journalists of Hawler newspaper, Kurdsat TV, Barzan newspaper, Zagros TV, Awene newspaper and Hawlati newspaper all went to the streets to ask people who they would vote for, and why. They found many people expected to vote for the new Change List, and the ruling parties KDP and PUK would be losing seats in the Kurdish parliament. Also, the subjects people found interesting, differed from what some journalists expected. Voters are mainly concerned about jobless youth, failing justice, water, electricity and roads. Safety is hardly an issue for voters in Kurdistan.

With parliamentary elections planned for July 25, IMCK is organising 6 workshops of a day on how to report before and during elections. Dutch trainer Nynke La Porte started on Saturday June 6 at Hawler newspaper in Irbil. La Porte is a Dutch journalist, who reported on at least 3 elections in the Netherlands. She is making a comparison with Dutch elections which were dominated by a new party, which was even predicted to become the biggest party in the Netherlands. In Kurdistan new parties have emerged, most importantly the Change List, which is predicted to take many votes. Hawler is a daily newpaper which prints 25.000 copies a day and is distributed for free in the whole of the Kurdish region. Other media to be trained will be Barzan, Zagros TV, Kurdsat TV, Awene and Rojnama.