* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
It’s always nice to be giving a training course in a new country – particularly when many of the participants are also having fun discovering a new city. Having fun out of the training room got us through some of the harder parts of the Health Reporting course in Hong Kong, where we had to tackle some of the more unpleasant stories which journalists have to face.
As well as female genital mutilation, we also looked at such issues as pandemics, unethical reporting, and how to run successful campaigns.
Participants came together from all over the region, bringing their expertise and experience, and learning new skills to become powerful advocates for this crucial area of journalism.
It was wonderful morale booster, as we got through some of the heavier information about diseases, to see that during the week of the course, Daniel Berehulak was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for his coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa for The New York Times.
Participants prepared campaigns for their news outlets on such issues as heart disease, sexual health, and the effects of high-heels of woman’s posture – using multimedia techniques to ensure their effort reach the widest possible audience.
It was, in many ways, a sobering week when faced with the tough data on the challenges in health reporting. But the warmth, humour, and professionalism of the Thomson Reuters Foundation participants left me confident that the newest soldiers are ready to do battle.
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