INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Seven Kurdish editors in chief and IMCK sent an open letter to the Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and the Kurdish president Massoud Barzani urging them to work on journalists' safety. ,,Journalists no longer feel happy and secure'', the open letter says, as attacks on journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan are increasing. The letter was written after the attack on Awene director Asos Hardi, and refers to hundreds of the incidents against journalists that took place since the demonstrations in Iraqi Kurdistan of early Spring. ,,The work of journalists and their freedom are in a crisis that will affect the reputation of the Kurdistan region'', the letter says, ,,and that will draw international attention''. The editors in chief and IMCK warn that if the attacks do not stop, and if the Kurdistan Journalists Law is not applied as it should be, freedom of speech will be in danger. They ask the presidents for a legal investigation of those cases that involve attacks...

IMCK trainers Xdir Domle and Mariwan Hama Saeed briefed Hawlati chief Kamal Rauf and his deputy Kazhaw Jamal after two months of intensive training on text editing. The training focussed on improving the text editing process inside Hawlati, and started end of May 2010 on the job at the Hawlati office in Sulaymaniya. The conclusion is that after two months important changes have been made, and that text editors understand what they need to be doing. Hardly any stories appear now in the paper without having been through the hands of a text editor. To make the process sustainable, Mariwan Hama Saeed will use the final two months of the project to help reshape the internal organisation, to make a planning for staff meetings and make a style book. The project at Hawlati is made possible with funding of the Open Society Institute.

Xidr Domle, experienced journalist and senoir trainer for IMCK, started on May 25 a four month training on text-editing at Hawlati newspaper. He will do this on-the-job project together with Mariwan Hama-Saeed, working for IWPR. The project in Sulaymaniya runs until September 2010. Hawlati is the oldest independent newspaper of Kurdistan, founded in 2001. To make the newspaper more professional Xidr and Mariwan will train the editors in how and why all text has to be edited, how to make leads and headlines and how to write good, unbiased stories. The training is funded by the Open Society Institute.

'It was very good to have an on the job training for all the staff and not only for one section. I'm very happy with the results,' stated Kamal Rauf, editor-in-chief of Hawlati. Arie Elshout, vice editor-in-chief finished on October 23 a 5-day training about matters concerning management, the organisation of the work and the news flow. Arie said he was very pleased to work with the Hawlati staff.

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.