English-language paper launches in
Kurdistan-Iraq
6.6.2006 | |
|
|
An English-language newspaper has
begun publication out of (Kurdistan) northern Iraq's Kurdish
enclave.
Soma -
Kurdish for perspective - is a biweekly Iraqi-Kurdish digest with
national distribution and a launch print run of 4,000 copies.
With peshmerga soldiers and drivers from the presidential bodyguard
distributing the publication, and the kind of Iraqi establishment
contact base that other media take years to develop, Soma's first
steps have been unorthodox to say the least.
Its content is a mixture of local and national reporting with a
heavy Kurdish emphasis and some regional analysis. |
Soma: mixture of local and national reporting with a heavy Kurdish
emphasis |
Funded by Hiro Ibrahim Ahmad, the wife of the Iraqi president, Jalal
Talabani, Soma's target audience is an eclectic mix of foreign
journalists, diplomats, security professionals and intelligence
analysts.
The editor, Tanya Goudsouzian, an Armenian-Canadian journalist, said
the website has had 90,000 hits.
"The Kurds always had the impression that they were misrepresented
by the western and Arab-language media," said Ms Goudsouzian, "so
the publication of our newspaper is a challenge to this status quo."
Soma also provides an opportunity for trainee journalists like Ari
Anwar, 29, to improve their English and eventually string from Iraq
for western newspapers.
"I can improve my English and I think that working with foreign
journalists is better because I can learn from their experience and
the style in which they write," Anwar said.
Ms Goudsouzian aims to make Soma a fixture on the expat media scene,
despite having only a small staff mostly lacking formal journalistic
training, a cramped office and a budget the fraction of that of
western newspaper.
guardian co.uk Top |
Kurd Net does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news information on this page |
® 