INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Editors in chief of Iraqi media visited on March 14th the workshop 'Women on the front pages!'. IMCK and international trainer Harriet Salm presented a two newspapers (with two front pages) in Kurdish and Arabic covering only women issues made by the female participants. The main goal was to convince and make the editors in chief aware of the importance of women issues on the front pages of newspapers. Women as an extra target group (almost 60 percent of all Iraqi's is female) can be the cause of an increase in revenues by selling more copies. The editors in chief or representatives present on the last day of the workshop were Karwan Anwar (PUK media), Cheman Musa (Avro), Abdul Razaq (Paymner), Luqman Ghafur (Kurdistani Nwe) and Adnan Said Husen (Rudaw). After seven days of training thirteen female participants were rewarded with an IMCK certificate. They learned how to write for a broader public, and how to recognize women stories that are worthy of the front...

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...

News, the follow up of news and researching for news. They are the major subjects of the on the job training Rob Siebelink started on Monday May 24, 2010 at Rudaw newspaper. Siebelink will spend five days with the journalists of Rudaw in their office in Erbil. Rudaw is a semi-independent Kurdish newspapers which is published weekly for the whole of Iraqi Kurdistan.