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DRAFT PLANS TO LAUNCH MEDIA INSTITUTE

An unprecedented gathering of Iraqi journalists and media managers in Paris two months ago has spawned the idea of establishing an independent media institute in Iraqi Kurdistan (the Kurdish-controlled area of Iraq currently under Western protection). The role of the institute will be to train local journalists, provide a resource library and documentation centre, and widen journalists' access to the Internet. Convened in September by the Human Rights Alliance, the media-training seminar brought together 25 Iraqi journalists from various ethnic, religious and political affiliations, who drafted a report on the state of the media in their country.

The report notes the "complete lack of press freedom," the "state monopoly of news and information" and the "killing, torture, intimidation, imprisonment, forced exile and dispossession of citizenship of journalists" in most areas of Iraq. In contrast, Iraq Kurdistan, most of which has been self-governed since 1991, has experienced an explosion of various types of news media in the last ten years, according to the report. Currently, some 400 print publications, 20 television stations and two satellite television channels exist in these parts.

Seminar participants emphasised the need for international partnerships to better protect Iraqi journalists and media associations, and recommended more media training seminars in other cities.

For more information, contact Françoise Brié, Human Rights Alliance: hrafrance@noos.fr; Tel: 33 1 43 57 1310; Fax: 33 1 43 57 1435.