INSI provides safety training to 54 journalists in Sri Lanka

11.08.2009

Brussels, 12 August  - Forty-four Sri Lankan journalists and 10 editors were given free safety training and advice by INSI in two courses in July.
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists and other media workers, ranking 13th in INSI’s list of deadliest nations since 1996. Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) says 34 news media personnel have been killed with no recourse to justice since the present government was formed in 2004. Ten have been kidnapped in the same period.

Sri Lankan journalists, editors, cameramen and sound recordists, eight of them women, participated in two two-day INSI workshops in Colombo. They came from a variety of media organisations, including Virakesari, Daily Mirror, YATV, MTV, Lankadeepa, Sirasa TV and Neth FM.

"We are delighted to have been able to provide real, practical help to colleagues working in such a dangerous environment. The statistics speak for themselves – all of the news media in Sri Lanka need to know how to protect themselves," said INSI Director Rodney Pinder.

"The training was excellent and completely satisfied me. It addressed the threats I face on a daily basis," said one participant.

The training covered personal safety, landmines, pre-deployment issues, first aid skills and detention and captivity survival.

Crisis Management Workshop

Ten editors from the top media organisations were also provided for the first time with a crisis management workshop.

"The workshop is unique. We had never thought about all of this. We usually send our journalists on short notice and we should definitely improve our procedures. I took a lot of notes and hope to be able to share them with my colleagues back at the newsroom, " said one editor.

The workshop consisted of an introduction to safety followed by a 90 minutes discussion focused on past media safety incidents such as bombings, death threats and emergency medical evacuation and ways to learn from past events. Subjects covered included how to make a security plan, how to set up travel and communication protocols with staff in the field as well as how to manage a crisis  and  report back on incidents.

"INSI provided practical help on how to improve risk assessment, staff security, equipment and premises. Moreover, for the first time, we have focused exclusively on editors. We taught them a safety methodology to work with from now on. Duty of care is of prime importance, and we are very happy about the outcome of this project , " Pinder said.

Training was provided by INSI and a specialist from AKE Group Ltd, a British-based security company.

INSI, a non-governmental organisation supported by news organisations,journalist support groups and humanitarian concerns worldwide, has now provided safety training at no cost to 1,298 journalists and other news media staff in 20 countries.

Any questions on this news release should be addressed to Sarah de Jong email sarah.dejong@newssafety.org tel +32 22 35 2201