This week at TrustMedia 27/02/2012- 02/03/2012

by Emily O'Donnell | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Friday, 2 March 2012 16:44 GMT

This week we’re hosting a “Writing Financial and Business News” course here in London. We have 12 experienced journalists from Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestinian Territories, Slovakia, Ukraine and Vietnam working hard in the training room downstairs. Because it’s Friday afternoon, their time with the Thomson Reuters Foundation is coming to a close, but they’ve all expressed an excitement to be in London - many for the first time - and plan to come back and visit.

Some of the trainees agreed to speak about the challenges they’ve faced in their careers while working in their home countries. Those videos will be up on the website soon, but you can look at their beautiful faces in all the pictures from the course here. Be sure to check back next week when our participants will blog about their experiences during the course.

TrustMedia Director Jo Weir is abroad in Dubai this week, having just returned from a visit to the Aswat Masriya team in Cairo. She’ll now be heading to Turkey attend and give a short talk at the Gender Awareness Raising Workshop in Istanbul next week. At the workshop, run by the British Council, Jo will speak about the challenges facing journalists abroad, as well as how to communicate more effectively with editors. Jo will also be scoping out venues for our Global Security Seminar (GSS) in Istanbul.

The GSS is a three-day seminar for journalists reporting on global security and terrorism. It will bring together security experts, authoritative commentators and journalists for a series of presentations and debates, if you would like to apply please find more info here.

The conference will discuss the role of the media in developing countries and how journalists can avoid being exploited by terrorists. A panel, complemented by a practical workshop, will discuss topics including the Arab Spring and its impact on al Qaeda and Islamist political parties, nuclear proliferation and Iran, cybersecurity and espionage, the risk of popular unrest in Russia and China, and how to anticipate security challenges of the future.

Print, broadcast and online journalists from developed or developing countries are encouraged to apply regardless of whether they are seasoned journalists or have reported professionally for only a few years. Applicants must be fluent in English. Funding support may be available for applicants from developing countries to cover travel and attendance costs. If all this sounds interesting, please apply here. Applications are now open! The deadline is April 30, 2012.

Also this week, we welcomed our new US intern, Emily, into the TrustMedia team. She’ll be helping us out with our website, including redesigning our “Resources” page next week, making it easier to use. But, for now you can find our free handbooks, tips and guides here.

Lastly, we’re currently accepting applications for the following training courses-apply now!