INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

The group of young female starters that is following a six week course in basic journalism at IMCK in Sulaymaniya started on August 12, 2012 on TV. During two weeks they will be taught how to use the camera and edit their material, and how to make a news item for TV. The week started with lessons on using the camera by IMCK trainers Beshad Shwani and Mustafa Al Qais. Shwani is an experienced cameraman who worked with different Kurdish media and now is with NRT. Al Qais has been co-training with IMCK on a number of workshops and is involved in the IMCK post graduate training Media bo Khalk. New photo's of the course can be found on Facebook . The course is supported by the German Consulate in Erbil and the Iraqi First Lady Hero Khan (Ibrahim).

Sunday June 10, IMCK organized a workshop consisting of five days on developing basic expertise in news-journalism in TV to improve the quality of journalism in Mosul. Nynke la Porte from the Netherlands was the trainer of the workshop in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Mazen Tayar, a journalist from Basra, assisted as co-trainer. The practical focus during the workshop was on how to make a good news-item for television. In this workshop Mosul journalists of different backgrounds not only met each other and were introduced to some practical knowledge about journalism, but at the same time they were taught how to integrate different perspectives and sources in their reports. The workshop aims to boost the expertise of the attending journalists and to create an awareness of the role media can play within the complex situation of Mosul and of the consequences reports can have in the often intense situation. Mosul is the hotbed of Iraq, where Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and th...

IMCK needs new trainers for TV. For that reason international trainer Gie Meeuwis started on Tuesday January 4 the first training of 2011: a workshop for TV makers on how to train others. Meeuwis is returning to Kurdistan, as he is the IMCK's main trainer for these kind of 'ToT's' (Training of Trainer's). He will make the mixed group of (seven) Arab and Kurdish speaking TV-makers work on getting their message across in a workshop situation. The group worked in December on content with international trainer Karin Greep. New trainers will be used for training outside Kurdistan, and for filling a gap in the IMCK post graduate training Media bo Khalk. The workshop takes place at the mediacentre's training hall in Sulaymaniya and takes five days.

The TV-group of IMCK's post graduate training Media bo Khalq/Media for People started a training on TV news. Dutch TV-maker Karin Greep started with the group on Monday 28 September 2009, together with lead trainer Xdir Domle. Greep will teach them what news is, how to find it and how to report it. Her four day training will end in making newsitems by all members of the group. The training is taking place in the traininghall for TV of Media bo Khalq in Irbil. Karin Greep has been working in journalism for almost 25 years, first radio and the past 7 years in TV news programs on Dutch TV.

Three Dutch parliamentary reporters came to Irbil to help their Kurdish colleagues to extend their knowledge on how to report on politics and on the parliament. Hans Otte, Milja de Zwart and Roel Geeraedts all worked in this field for years. Otte is leading the training, as he did a civil journalism training with IMCK last year. With the elections coming the three Dutch reporters also try to teach colleagues in Kurdistan how to inform people to help them cast their votes. In Irbil, at the building of Aras Publishing, on April 21 they started a workshop of 7 days with 3 groups of journalists: working in print, radio and TV. Co-trainers are Xdir Domle, Shwan Muhamed and Ako Mohammed. The project is part of a project IMCK has started to create more understanding between reporters and politicians, and is partly funded by the American reconstruction fund.