Twelve Brazilian journalists from print, online media, radio and television took an intensive course in how to cover disasters and emergencies in Sao Paulo from April 12-16, a course that began just a few days after heavy rain and fatal mudslides in Rio de Janeiro.

Hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the course – delivered in Portuguese - helped to improve the participants’ writing and reporting skills, broaden their knowledge of humanitarian crises and the inner workings of relief agencies and better equip them to report in hostile environments.

Trainers Katherine Baldwin, a correspondent on the Foundation’s humanitarian news website AlertNet in London, and Raquel Stenzel, training editor for Latin America, reviewed with the participants how to prepare to cover a natural disaster or emergency, the steps to take to keep safe while on the ground and how to produce solid, original stories full of colour but free of clichés.

The participants took part in practical reporting and writing exercises that simulated emergency situations, engaged in lively debates about ethics and sensitive reporting and had a chance to quiz some guest speakers.

They heard from ThomsonReuters Latin American bureau chief Saul Hudson, responsible for logistics in breaking news stories in the region - notably the Haiti earthquake. Brazil bureau chief Todd Benson described his recent deployment to help cover the earthquake in Chile.

Representatives from the aid world also spoke to the participants about their operations in the region and about under-reported stories. Carlos Wilson from Oxfam International, Luiz Fernando Godinho from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Marina Spirandelli and Renata Pereira of CARE in Brazil gave presentations and answered the participants’ questions.

Participants gave positive feedback, saying the course had left them better equipped to cover disasters and emergencies in the future and had helped to hone the reporting and writing skills they use on a day-to-day basis.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Enter the code shown on the left

When you submit a comment to us we request your name, e-mail address and optionally a link to a website. Please note where you submit a website address, we may link to it via your name. By sending us a comment, you accept that we have the right to show the comment and your name to users. Although we require your email address, this will not be published on the site, and is only required to enable us to check facts with you, e.g. if you are making a claim we can not confirm easily. Additionally, if you would like your comment removed at anytime, you'll have to use this e-mail address when you contact us. To remove a comment at any time please e-mail us at blogs-(at)-reuters-(dot)-com (address obscured to avoid spam) specifying who you are and what you would like removed. We moderate all comments and will publish everything that advances the post directly or with relevant tangential information. We reserve the right to edit comments in order to maintain the quality of the comments, and may not include links to irrelevant material. We try not to publish comments that we think are offensive or appear to pass you off as another person, and we will be conservative if comments may be considered libelous. Reuters will use your data in accordance with Reuters privacy policy. Reuters Group is primarily responsible for managing your data. As Reuters is a global company your data will be transferred and available internationally, including in countries which do not have privacy laws but Reuters seeks to comply with its privacy policy.