Photo By Staff Sgt. Christopher Carney | Jumaa Sayeed , director, Wasit Independent Media Center and Steve Smith, public...... read more read more
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AL-KUT, Iraq — Freedom of speech and of the press are characteristics of liberty that many countries have fought to protect. A vigorous press is essential to an educated, informed populace, and in order to work properly, they must be free from control by the state.
The Wasit Independent Media Center, in Kut, is a non-governmental organization working toward a competent media able to perform independent of political and business influence.
Located in Wasit Province, the WIMC involves representatives of media outlets throughout the province, including broadcasters, newspapers and magazine groups. Most media in the province is affiliated with the group.
"Their function is to help support and to build upon the independent media that already exists," said Steve Smith, Public Diplomacy Officer with the U.S. State Department's Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team.
"It gives the media a forum where they can come together and talk about anything, giving them a venue to gather," said the Winchester, Va., native.
The Wasit PRT, which helps Iraq build civil capacity by working with local government and business leaders on a wide variety of projects, visited the WIMC, March 19, at their new headquarters near the Kut Tourism Hotel.
"We are good friends with the director, Jumaa Sayeed. His background is in print journalism," said Smith
Sayeed was elected by the press core of Wasit to serve as the director of the WIMC.
A top priority of the PRT is helping the WIMC with media training classes for reporters and journalists within the province.
Journalists from Wasit did similar training in the town of Sulamaniya in 2009. Those classes offered resources on how to work responsibly and included a press conference and visits to local media.
The center also arranged for politicians and civil servants from Kut to travel to Irbil for workshops on the relationship between politicians and the press.
The focus for classes this time around will be reporting skills.
"Some of the skill sets are rudimentary, but, for the most part, they have the basics on up," said Smith of the area's journalists.
A recent interview by a local T.V. station highlights the areas that need worked on. The broadcaster set the tripod and camera up correctly and did everything right, but, when it was time to interview the subject, the reporter just held the microphone forward and did not ask any questions.
"The key is just finding training that is appropriate," Smith said.
The PRT suggested the possibility of working with the local university, with the WIMC providing the equipment and instructors and the university providing the space.
In addition to helping improve the quality of reporting in Wasit, the WIMC wants to improve the professionalism of the industry.
Because of the financial situation of many companies in Iraq, politicians and businesses can often pay the press to get a favorable story, thus compromising the integrity of all reporting.
The WIMC helps counter this by giving the press a professional and independent place to gather and organize.
PRT is also helping to price and find a print house in order to maintain that independence.
As of now, newspapers and magazines must go to Baghdad in order to get printing done. If facilities were available locally, it would benefit all media.
"It would allow them to stay relevant... and is the key to the financial independence of the WIMC," said Smith.
| Date Taken: | 04.09.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.09.2010 04:08 |
| Story ID: | 47874 |
| Location: | AL-KUT |
| Web Views: | 420 |
| Downloads: | 332 |
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