Reporting World News: Intensive Course on Development for Journalists by VIKES

During the past couple of years we have witnessed an influx of conflicts, violence and wars, and the foreign news sections of our newspapers have been filled with pictures of refugees. The professional skills of journalists are measured in reporting on these global issues. How to find the real stories and sources? How to separate propaganda from reality? How to get behind the headlines? Especially in a world where the foreign news section of the newspaper is the first to suffer from budget cuts. How do we see the world through today’s media? Is the world really getting better or worse?

The three-day intensive course, organized by the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development (VIKES) aimed to answer these questions and increase knowledge about development affairs among media.

The training encouraged the young journalists from Estonia, Latvia, Lithunia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Finland to think big when it comes to development issues!

VIKES organized the training on development issues and global interdependencies for a selected group of journalists in Helsinki 20 - 22 April 2016.  The training was mainly conducted by experienced journalists that shared their own experiences from working as a journalist in conflict areas or developing countries.




The trainers and speakers included experts such as freelance journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman and photojournalist Niklas Meltio. During the three days of training the participants went through different development issues from climate change to sustainable development from media's perspective.  The participants also got a chance to get to know colleagues from all around the world. 

The journalists taking part in the training will also be given a chance to go on study trips to developing countries organized by the different project partners.

Environmental journalist Kari Rissa telling about the impact of climate change to developing countries.

Pekka Reinikainen (Finnish Red Cross), Aishi Zidan (Amnesty Finland) and photojournalist Niklas Meltio discussing how the Western media covers migration. The discussion was moderated by Anni Valtonen (Maailman Kuvalehti).

The Female-dominated group of future foreign correspondents.

Anni Valtonen (Maailman Kuvalehti) asked Pekka Reinikainen (Red Cross), journalist Amie-Ferris-Rotman and photojournalist Niklas Meltio how they deal with emotional trauma during covering traumatic events.

Amie Ferris-Rotman described her work as the Foreign Correspondent for Reuters in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Amie Ferris-Rotman heading a workshop on planning the programme for trips and convincing the editors.

The devastating effects of the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal by Program Manager Anurag Acharya from the Centre for Investigative Journalism Nepal.

VIKES partners Editor Shiva Gaunle and Program Manager Anurag Acharya from the Centre for Investigative Journalism Nepal describing the difference of local and foreign reporting.

Journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman (freelancer), Program Manager Anurag Acharya (CIJ Nepal), journalist Katri Merikallio (Suomen Kuvalehti) and Coordinator Maiju Mitrunen (VIKES) discussing about the practicalities of world news and journalism.

Lyydia Kilpi from NGO network Kepa told the participants what tax havens have to do with development.

See more pictures here. Also, read the comments by the participants from the previous posts by the other project partners!




Photos & texts: Maiju Mitrunen, VIKES


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