Student journalists in Iraq   

The members of the inaugural editorial team of the AUI-S Voice talked with AJR about their first experiences with the newspaper, which celebrated its one-year anniversary on January 31. The Voice is the only independent student newspaper in Iraq and is published at The American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. Arez Hussen was the second editor-in-chief of the Voice, replacing the newspaper's original editor, who quit after a few months. Hussen remains the top editor of the newspaper for the 2010-2011 school year. All of the other editors were replaced after the first semester of publication to give more students a chance to help run the newspaper. No one else applied to be editor-in-chief, however, or had the experience needed to lead the newspaper and sustain it during a difficult transitional period with a new university administration and new faculty adviser.

Arez Hussen, 19, Sulaimani, Editor-in-Chief

The first story I covered was the AUI-S MBA student graduation, which turned out to be the front page story of the first issue of the first Iraqi independent student newspaper. The Voice faculty adviser asked us, "Who wants to cover that story?" I looked to my left and right, and I realized that no one had raised her or his hand. I told myself in Kurdish, "Xot halda. Matrsa," which means to jump in and not be afraid. So, I raised my hand to cover that story without having any kind of experience. I went home, and I started browsing on Washington Post and New York Times Web sites in order to have at least a clue about journalism. I went to the graduation party with my small notebook. The funny thing is that I was wearing a suit and a tie, which is so rare for journalist, especially at a newspaper. I was the only reporter wearing formal clothes. Jackie Spinner, our adviser, was at the graduation, and she gave me a few quick journalism tips. She told me to follow the professional reporters, to use my notebook, and if I saw that Barham Salih (the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government and founder of the university) was surrounded by other reporters to join them and ask questions, too. I wrote two pages of notes from the speeches. I was not sure that I got the right quotes, but I knew that I was more efficient than most of the reporters there. They were writing the whole speeches, but I was waiting for right time and for the big news to make notes, not trying to write everything they said. I interviewed a student after the ceremony. His name was Ali. I came back to AUI-S, and I interviewed three more students. On the way, I was always asking myself whether I had enough information to write a good story. I spent about three to four hours writing that story. This was an unusual experience to do something without any training. This story was the first step that made me fall in love with journalism. I was both excited and afraid. It taught me that everything is hard in the beginning and that everything is possible. For me this was a precious and a golden opportunity to enter journalism world because I was always interested in being a journalist, but without any experience, that dream was not possible.

Baker M. Alhashimi, 21, Baghdad, Editorial Page Editor

The first thing I wrote about was how our university had banned Facebook in the computer labs. It was my first editorial in my life. I felt so confident and vigorous to write it because I wanted to write in English anyway, but the Voice gave me the right way to do it. It is the beginning of my writing. If one day I will be a famous writer, then the honor should go to the Voice instead of going to me. It was the first amount of asphalt that paved my road to think of being a writer in the future. I be always gratitude for that opportunity.

Hazha Ahmed, 19, Sulaimani, Photo Editor

My first work for the Voice was to edit some photos of different events and stories. I can never, ever forget that day because it was my first work, and I was so excited to see how I am going to manage this. On that day, I stayed till late in the afternoon,and that was the first time when I stayed at campus till that time. However, deep inside, I was so happy because I was working in a newspaper, which was one of my childhood dreams.

Yad Faiq, 20, Sulaimani, Design Editor

There always are things in life that we forget about, but I remember every tiny detail of the day we started designing the newspaper. It was my birthday. Friends and family were celebrating my birthday in the dining room of our house, while I was in my room working on the layout. Everything had to be ready by the weekend. As a fact of Iraqi nature, things could go wrong in a blink of an eye, and so it did. There were too many obstacles and difficulties to face at campus the next day. The power went off, our laptops were running low on charge, the campus guards were closing down, and the deadline was staring at us dead in the eye. But behind every succesful project, there is a succesful adviser, who inspires and motivates the team through the rough times to success. Our adviser, Jackie, got us through, and we put out the first issue. I used to work as a freelancer and never really got the chance to work on a serious project. During those moments finishing the paper on deadline, I was living one of my dreams.

Namo Kaftan, 21, Sulaimani, Web Editor

The first thing that I've ever done for the Voice was that time when I had to edit the first video report, which was done by one of my Web team journalists. I didn't have enough experience nor confidence to do the editing because it was a new skill for me, but I thought for a moment and I said to myself, "Let me give it a try and I will do my best to see a good upshot." The result wasn't perfect, but it was a good video report.