Building a free press in world's hot spots

This article examines a "growing industry": trainers working with journalists in areas recently affected by war. Much of the training activity started with the fall of the Soviet Union. For example, launched in 1984, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) travels to countries for years or months to teach journalists skills such as how to investigate a government. Some talented local reporters are trained to be trainers themselves. Another group forming part of this industry is The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), which claims that it receives hundreds of applicants when it posts ads for such trainers. However, representatives say, only a few people have the experience or strength needed to handle such an assignment. Even those who are selected must take "hostile environment" training prior to a 3- or 6-month position.

This kind of preparation is needed because these journalism trainers face a number of challenges in these "hot spots". For example, IWPR trainers, who are currently working in Afghanistan and will soon travel to Iraq, often encounter the perception among students that they are pushing American or Western journalism. Trainers find themselves having to explain that they are instead there to disseminate internationally accepted standards. One ICFJ official comments that the United States' coverage of the war in Iraq, which he says some considered less objective and overly patriotic, has left some journalists in other countries asking, "What do American journalists have to teach us?" However, one trainer quoted in the article says, "There is a physical hunger for knowledge and skills... especially compared to post-Soviet countries I've been in where people were very cynical and sometimes arrogant".

Click here for the full article on the Christian Science Monitor site.