Leading journalists offer unique insights in war and conflict training course

Two senior war reporters from the BBC and Sky News have joined an outstanding array of experts in a unique series of training courses for journalists covering possible war crimes in conflict zones.

Rushdi Abu Alouf, the BBC's Gaza correspondent and Yousra Elbagir who's the Africa correspondent for Sky News, draw on their personal experiences to offer advice to those in the field and back in newsrooms in the e-learning course For the record: covering war and conflict'.

The course, the fourth in a series to help journalists document and archive stories from the scenes of possible war crimes, is the result of a collaboration between Thomson Foundation and the Eurovision News Exchange which is part of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

You have to be careful about the language you use.

Rushdi Abu Alouf, BBC Gaza Correspondent Rushdi and Yousra join leading experts in the training course including Ole Solvang, the senior human rights office for the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and the international human rights lawyer, Dr Anya Neistat from the Clooney Foundation.

Between them there is a wealth of advice including the importance of using the right language in reports, how to talk to survivors and the best way to document and archive from a scene of a possible war crime.

You have to be careful about the language you use, says Rushdi Abu Alouf, who has spent 20 years reporting on wars and conflicts across the Middle East. It's a point reinforced by Liz Corbin who is the director of news for the EBU. We want to make sure that nothing that we say at the time can undermine what may happen in the future, says Liz.

New online course guides journalists on how to archive video and images effectively. Photo: Inna Varenytsia

For the Record: Covering War and Conflict includes case studies and examples from wars and conflicts around the world, including Israel and Gaza and Sudan. It follows on from three courses which focus on the war in Ukraine and the creation of the EBU's Ukraine War Archive. One of those courses is in the Ukrainian language. Thomson has used its expertise in interactive e-learning to adapt them for the messaging app Telegram, in both English and Ukrainian.

As with the previous courses in this series, we make clear the distinction between journalism and the legal process because journalists aren't war crimes investigators, says Catherine Mackie who's the course instructor and training and communications editor for Thomson. This resource offers an unparalleled lineup of experts to guide journalists, both in the field and in newsrooms on the best way tread that fine line.

For the Record: Covering War and Conflict is available for free on the EBU Academy platform.

More in the For the Record series

How to document stories from a war zone (for reporters and crew)

How to document stories from a war zone (for newsroom journalists)

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