One-day basic safety training course
for Mindanao journalists

THE Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), with support from the USAID through The Asia Foundation (TAF), and the Canadian Embassy, are holding a series of one-day basic safety training courses for journalists in Mindanao.

The training — to be held in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga in the first quarter of the year — seeks to address the need of journalists to be able to identify and handle both man-made and natural emergencies that could pose a threat to their personal well-being in the course of their coverage of news and/or media-related events throughout the whole country.

Mindanao journalists in particular find themselves having to report on conflicts on a day-to-day basis that on many occasions puts them in high threat locations or “hot spots.” The training, to be facilitated by the Special Applications Research (SAR) which has done similar seminars for the major TV networks and Metro Manila print journalists, will therefore focus on survival and personal protection dealing with topics on prevention, intervention, and postvention measures. The course will be a mix of lectures, visual aids (Powerpoint), demonstrations and practical hands-on exercises.

The first safety training will be held at the Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City on February 10, 2006 from 1 to 6 p.m. A registration fee of P150 will be charged interested participants to cover costs of materials and snacks.

For broadcast journalists, please get in touch with your TV and radio stations, local KBP chapters or the KBP’s main office in Manila through:

• Verge Velasco
  Phone: (032) 8151990 to 92
  kbp@pacific.net.ph

For print journalists, kindly contact the PCIJ at:

• Phone: (032) 9293117, 4104764
  Email: training@pcij.org

or

• Mindanews (c/o Carol Arguillas)
  Phone: (082) 2974360
  Email: editor@mindanews.com