Join Dart Center ‘Reporting Safely in Crisis Zones’ Course 2019 for Journalists

Application For Dart Center ‘Reporting Safely in Crisis Zones’ Course 2019 for Journalists (Full Scholarships Available) is Ongoing

With generous support from the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, the Rory Peck Trust, and the ACOS Alliance, the Dart Center will be offering its annual four-day crisis zones reporting course to 16 freelance journalists at no cost.

Covering crisis presents some of the biggest challenges in the journalism profession. Reporters must make quick decisions on whether to trust a translator or drive down a dangerous road. This course will teach you how to operate with caution in volatile situations, with an emphasis on conflicts.

The training is also relevant to working in natural disaster situations such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. While most hostile environment training for journalists deals with ducking crossfire and kidnappers, this course will teach you how to avoid unnecessary peril through preparation and planning before, during and after assignments. Participants will emerge from the course with a better understanding of how to hire fixers, shun attackers and protect their digital footprints.

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Expert trainers will provide instruction in the following areas:

Risk assessment: making the right decisions before and during an assignment, setting limits, sound practices amid riots, snipers, mines, shooting, roadblocks, infiltrators and general mayhem.
Digital Security: safeguarding sensitive computer data and communicating with others in a secure manner. Coding, encryption and cloud computing skills are taught.
Emergency first aid: tourniquets, triage, fractures and bullet wounds.
Trauma awareness: emotional self-care while covering troubling stories.
Rape/sexual assault prevention: setting boundaries, delaying tactics, basic self-defense and healing.

Lead Instructor: Judith Matloff, adjunct faculty, Columbia Journalism School and former conflict correspondent with more than 30 years of experience. The course will be held October 24 – 27, 2019, at the Columbia Journalism School in New York City.

All program sessions are conducted in English. Participants must be fluent in spoken English.

Eligibility

Participation is open to freelance journalists only;
Applicants can be from anywhere in the world;
All program sessions are conducted in English. Participants must be fluent in spoken English.