Foreign Correspondent Training Course, January 2010 - overview

Dates: January 3-11, 2010
Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Who attended the course?
We're pleased to report that the January 2010 course attracted the usual international group, with participants from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Romania, Sweden, the US and the UK.

• 89% of participants rated the course as 'very good' or 'excellent'
• 100% of participants said that they'd recommend the course to a friend

Course content
Topics included: life as a foreign correspondent; how to break into the trade; covering conflict; writing for radio; pitching ideas to editors; photojournalism, and much more (see the Schedule page for full details). As ever, participants reported that one of the highlights of the course was the reporting project, where they got a real taste of international reporting by going out into the streets of Prague to research and write their own stories.

Who were the trainers?
The training team for the course comprised: Rob Cameron, the BBC's correspondent in Prague; Dean Cox, an international photojournalist; David Rennie from The Economist; Michael Jordan, The Christian Science Monitor's correspondent in Bratislava; Aernout van Lynden, a war correspondent with over 20 years' experience in print and television; and Patti McCracken, a freelance journalist from Vienna.

What did the participants say?

“This has been a really inspiring week. I feel much more courageous. Thank you!”

About the 'life as a foreign correspondent' session: "SO INSPIRING! Made me want to jump on the next plane anywhere. He really opened up the world. Nice balance of realism and optimism."

About the reporting project: “one of the best - if not the best - part of the course. Going in the field and confronting the real situation of being in a foreign country was a tremendous experience! It was the thing I liked the most and I want to congratulate the person who had the idea for this course!”

About the photojournalism session: "A very useful session. I liked that it was a little technical, but not too much. Another aspect I liked was him taking us through a photo essay, photo by photo and explaining each photos purpose related to the others and the general story of the project."

About the 'reporting for radio' session: "I really enjoyed Mr. Cameron’s presentation. Before this, I had not considered working in this medium, but now I am excited to learn more and use this medium to improve income and tell different stories."

About the 'covering conflict' session: "Absolutely brilliant. An honest and informative lecture on what it takes to be a journalist and foreign correspondent."

Photos can be seen here.

 

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For more about TOL training courses go to our list of current courses.