Leading journalists offer unique insights in war and conflict training course

21/01/2025

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)

:

-- Explore our projects across the globe

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/latest/leading-journalists-offer-uniq...
	See more stories from thompsonfoundation

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026