JMIC safety coach Abeer Saady led a safety training organized by the organization Unbias the News March 22.: Reporting in a conflict zone – Safety and ethics.
Ukrainian journalists receiving support
194 people had registered, and 67 people entered the zoom room. Among those registered were 17 from Ukraine and 11 from Russia, informs Unbiasthenews, https://unbiasthenews.org/about-us/
The other participants were from all over the world – especially African and Arab countries. Many asked questions – several had experience from covering the war in Ukraine.
Safety trainer Abeer Saady, and important questions during the training.
Abeer Saady has previously provided such training to Ukrainian journalists, and is still in contact with some of them. Also after this workshop, she has had contact with participants from Ukraine and Russia, among others.
After a month in the field in Nepal, Bangladesh and different European countries working on individual projects, the students returned for a five day online editing workshop led by Munem Wasif.
Munem Wasif from his intro lecture on editing principles.
The editing process was a part of the International Storytelling project 2022 for the 6 students from photo.circle in Kathmandu, 6 students from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka and 9 students from OsloMet.
The week consisted of lectures on the editing process and different editing exercises. The participants edited and gave feedback to each other in groups.
Berlin-based Barbara Stauss, a photo director and founding member of Mare magazine, gave a lecture on editing work in editorial spaces.
Katrin Koenning showing images from her own exhibitions.
Katrin Koenning gave an engaging and personal artist talk where she shared and explained the various processes of editing in books and exhibitions.
The main questions for the students’ individual editing were:
· What is the story all about?
· Does the edit reflect the idea behind the story?
· Does the edit have enough visual variety or is it repetitive?
· Do you develop any logic for editing it?
Students and teachers meeting online for the workshop.
The five day workshop ended Friday April 1 with a an online presentation session, where each of the students had to critique another student’s work.
The Journalism & Media International Center in conjunction with the Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University, Uganda have conducted a four-day webinar on safety and security of journalists.
JMIC safety trainer Abeer Saady teaching.
The webinar was attended by 49 final year journalism students and early career journalists from Uganda. The training sessions that started on Monday, 7th March were concluded on 10th March, 2022.
Dr. Ivan Lukanda spoke on behalf of the Head of Department
Dr. Ivan Lukanda, who spoke on behalf of the Head of Department, noted that the training is crucial for young journalists, because it enables them to know what to do when they are attacked so that they secure their safety. He commended JMIC for its continued support towards the Department that has enabled them to prepare their students.
The webinar was facilitated by both local and international facilitators. Local facilitators included, Claire Muhindo, the online content manager of Africa Centre for Media Excellence, a local media support organisation and Tabu Butagira, the Managing Editor of Nation Media Group – Uganda.
Other trainers included, Abeer Saady, a recognised safety trainer associated with Journalism & Media International Center and Marte Høiby, a Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF Digital, Norway.
Marte Høiby is a Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF.
Claire Muhindo told participants that journalists should be cautious of their safety digitally, physically and other aspects, because unsafe journalists cannot tell good stories.
Muhindo advised participants to always backup their data, avoid opening emails from untrusted sources, distancing themselves from usage of public Wi-Fi, noting that doing so exposes their accounts to hackers.
Tabu Butagira shared with participants his safety and security experience as a journalist in Uganda. He warned participants against sharing a lot of information about their lives and family on social media platforms because this information can be used by wrong elements to their disadvantage.
“Nothing posted on the digital platforms that cannot be accessed, if wanted. If you don’t want to be recorded anywhere, don’t write. People put [photo] albums on their social media platforms, hence leaving digital footprints.” Butagira said.
“You will never know when you will write a story that will put you into trouble. Always ask yourself if what you are putting on your social media is the right information, and what are the risks? You will see no danger to upload anything, until the danger comes, and it will be too late.” He warned.
Abeer Saady took participants through a host of issues related to safety and security including, risk management and safety planning while working in hostile environments, situational awareness and ethical dilemmas related to safety and security.
Jill Ainebyoona, an early career journalist who was one of the participants said that the webinar had polished his knowledge about safety and security.
“The workshop has opened my eyes about the danger of exposing ourselves through what we post [on social media] and I will continue distancing myself from that practice,” he said.
Susan Nakangwe, another participant said “As a result of the webinar training, I’m in position to protect myself in case of a crisis. I would know when to step aside as well as when to approach the crowd to pick key information. Also, I learnt the essence of wearing protective gear while reporting.”
6 students from PhotoCircle in Kathmandu, 6 students from Pathshala in Dhaka and 9 students from OsloMet have started the International Storytelling project 2022:
An online start-up workshop lead by the Indian photo editor, curator and writer Tanvi Mishra together with the Bangladeshi photographer, tutor and curator Sarker Protick.
At photo circle 4 Nepali students gathered in person to join the rest of the class for the opening week (16 – 20 Feb 2022) of the International Storytelling Workshop 20222. Whereas the rest of the 2 Nepali students joined remotely as they were already on the move for their fieldwork. PHOTOS by photo.circle.
From 15thto 20thFebruary the students worked on the story pitches, research, further development and preparation of the coming project and field work inspired and tutored by Tanvi Mishra and Sarker Protick.
In the coming weeks the students will work on their individual projects and will meet again for the online editing workshop on the 28thMars.
One of the regular meetings between Jon, Ashraf, and Sagar. The three are coordinating the workshop on behalf of their respective institutions – OsloMet, Pathshala, and photo.circle.
