07 May, 2004 - Published 10:58 GMT
Iraq: Support for media services
The political turmoil in Iraq has had a major impact on the quality of media presentation.
With this in mind the BBC World Service Trust in partnership with the British Council set out to address the most urgent needs of the Iraqi media base through implementing a training programme to re-establish technical skills.
Following a needs analysis to Iraq in the beginning of the year, the key technical training requirements were identified and an extensive curriculum was devised to provide guidance and tuition on the latest media technologies, concepts and methods of working.
Despite being faced with snow blizzards, sand storms and an earthquake all in the first week, over 140 Iraqi Media Technicians travelled to Jordan to take part in one of the fifteen, one week training workshops. With a mix of theoretical classes and hands-on sessions the trainees received intensive coaching from leading international trainers on digital broadcasting and post production processes.
'This course has opened up our horizons by introducing us to modern techniques used in the media. We have been given an opportunity to gain hands on practical experience of new technologies which we hope one day will be available in Iraq'
said Dr Waleed Shamil, Head of the department of Theatre Arts, Baghdad University
Participants were drawn from a range of backgrounds encompassing a broad geographical and gender mix, and a wide spectrum of Iraq’s media base, including both radio and television.
As part of the training programme the BBC World Service Trust and the British Council hosted a weekly reception and informal discussion for each new group of Iraqi media trainees. The Trust has produced a booklet summarising the discussions from these meetings. The booklet gives the views of the broadcast media professionals; summarising their views and reflecting their concerns for the long term development of the Iraqi media sector.
For many Iraqi broadcast engineers this was the first opportunity to share their views in an open forum and in an international arena. The contents of the booklet therefore reflect very much their views and opinions of the past present and future of Iraq’s Fourth Estate.
One group was fortunate enough to have a brief yet rewarding encounter with Cherie Blair, the British Prime Minister's wife, who was in Jordan attending a ‘Women and the Law’ conference. Mrs Blair kindly took the time to pose for photographs with the trainees and learn first hand about the training that they were receiving.
In conjunction with the technical training in Jordan, the BBC World Service Trust hosted a two week Study Tour to the UK in mid-March for senior Iraqi media managers.
The study tour was launched with a reception held at the British Council Headquarters in London.
The first week focused on an introduction to the media in the UK, and the delegates were presented with seminars on pluralistic media, media policy and regulation and media best practice by guest speakers from BBC Public Policy, World Service, Monitoring, IWPR, Ofcom, University Media Departments, Reuters and ITN.
The group paid a visit to BBC Norwich where they saw first hand the workings of a Regional broadcasting unit. The second week was spent at the BBC’s Training and Development centre in Wood Norton with the delegates receiving specialist training on media technical and practical issues.
‘The study tour has allowed me to gain an understanding of how the media in the UK functions. The fundamental difference between the media in Iraq and in the UK is the total independency and freedom of speech, which I find amazing.’ Anwar Aljebor, Iraqi Journalist and manager of the Basra radio station, Al-Nahrain.
Both the training workshops and the UK Study Tour were successful and very well received. All parties involved felt that it was a positive towards starting the difficult process of rebuilding an effective media base in Iraq.