HELP (‘cos you Need Somebody)

It’s often been said before: write about what you know. Likewise teaching. So who better to conduct a one-day Hostile Environment Logistical Preparation Course at the FCC than Kevin Sites, who is known as the grandfather of “backpack journalists”, and who in the course of a 30-year reporting career was once taken captive in Iraq, albeit briefly.

What would you say was the main takeaway of the session?

Kevin Sites: “You don’t have to be in a war zone for an environment to be hostile toward journalists. Antipathy towards our noble profession and its practitioners is everywhere in this post-truth world. So it’s essential whenever and wherever we report that we not only create a story plan but also a safety plan for ourselves, our sources and our colleagues.

“One of the most daunting modules in the course is called capture simulation, in which participants are tied up, blindfolded and sensory deprived. While this can be disconcerting, it’s important that journalists understand they can still maintain some agency in their safety, learning to use their face, voice, body language, and even universal keywords to humanise themselves to their captors.”

Did you feel your audience at the FCC was responsive and appreciative?

“The participants who enrolled in the course were energetic and engaged. Many had already experienced reporting or travel in hostile environments and realised the necessity of formalising their safety training, especially in the area of first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, using an automated external defibrillator and casualty evacuation.”

Jay Ganglani, who works for The Standard , commented: “I learnt a great deal on this course.

“It’s not every day that you get to hear from a war correspondent and learn from their experiences. It was fascinating to hear what drove Sites to take up his career. He also made sure that he broke things down in the first aid section for those of us that were new to it.”