Recently, Iraqi Members of Parliament from different blocs participated in an intensive two-day media training course in Erbil, organized by IREX in Iraq. Aimed at further developing the media skills of Iraqi MPs, IREX partnered with the Global Partners and Associates Meetings to hold the training.
The Iraqi lawmakers learned about reaching out to the media to communicate with the public. Expert trainers encouraged the parliamentarians to get the media, and by extension the public, involved in policy discussions. “This creates a two-way conduit of information between people and MPs,” stated one trainer. “Parliament should help the community to take part in its debates by opening up the decision-making processes and facilitating the media reporting on its business.”
Part of the course focused on training the Iraqi politicians on how to handle difficult enquiries during interviews with the media.
Sabah Jaff, the Director of Media at Iraqi Parliament’s administration unit described the training as “very beneficial”, saying it helped the MPs better understand the importance of communicating with the media. He urged the presidency of the Iraqi Parliament, IREX and other international NGOs to hold more such trainings in order to improve the MPs’ media skills.
Kwestan Hamawandi, an MP from the bloc of the Kurdish Gorran Movement in Iraqi Parliament, said Parliamentarians must work on building media skills to enable them to communicate with their constituencies about legislation in parliament. She encouraged fellow MPs “to be transparent and build trust with their constituents in order to establish a democratic society.”
Another Iraqi MP, Najiha Abdulamir, from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc, said “members of parliamentary committees need such training as they all must speak to the media.”