Iraqi Election Coverage
Over 200 journalists participate in workshops - involving practical assignments and classroom instruction - aimed at preparing them for reporting on the country’s elections.
Iraqi Election Coverage
Over 200 journalists participate in workshops - involving practical assignments and classroom instruction - aimed at preparing them for reporting on the country’s elections.
Identify Issues
The Iraqi public lacked knowledge about the electoral process and its role in building democratic, representative institutions.
Build Journalism
IWPR trained more than 200 journalists and editors, both print and radio, throughout the country on election’s coverage. The month-long training workshops involved practical assignments and classroom instruction, emphasising news analysis, feature writing and breaking stories.
Report News
In order to provide comprehensive coverage of provincial and national elections, IWPR launched a daily broadsheet, called Metro, published in both Kurdish and Arabic and distributed free throughout the country. A daily Arabic-language radio programme was also produced and broadcast in cooperation with Radio Nawa and Voices of Iraq, two national radio networks.
Raise Awareness
25,000 copies of Metro were distributed throughout the country every day during the election period, while Metro’s radio daily radio programmes reached upwards of a million listeners. The Iraqi public was exposed for the first time to factual, balanced coverage of the entire election process, including monitoring of the results.
Make an Impact
Election’s coverage through Metro and the two radio networks provided the public with critical information on the election process, voting patterns and the position of various candidates – and encouraged many to vote for the first time. One Metro story documenting voting irregularities in provincial elections prompted the High Electoral Commission to investigate and take corrective measures.
