“Safety for Journalists” Training School

“Safety for Journalists”
Training School
May 8-12, 2023
Kilkis, Greece

The International Training Centre for the Safety of Journalists and Media Professionals, the Peace Journalism Lab, the School of Journalism and Mass Communications of Aristotle University Thessaloniki, the Jean Monnet Chair for European Public Diplomacy, and the Hellenic Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center organize the third "Safety for Journalists” Training School, with the support of Secretariat General of Communication and Information, Digital Communication Network Global, Journalists Union of Macedonia and Thrace and Friedrich Newman foundation.

ΤHE SAFETY FOR JOURNALISTS TRAINING SCHOOL IS A DYNAMIC, WEEK-LONG EXPERIENCE THAT BRINGS TOGETHER PRACTITIONERS AND EXPERTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

IN OUR INCREASINGLY FRAGMENTED WORLD, THE WORK OF JOURNALISTS IS ARGUABLY MORE DANGEROUS THAN EVER. TRAINING OBJECTIVES FOCUS ON THE PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND INTELLECTUAL PREPARATION OF REPORTERS HEADING INTO WAR ZONES OR COMPLEX ASSIGNMENTS.

THE CURRICULUM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY GLOBAL LEADERS IN SAFETY TRAINING AND COMPLEMENTS THE ACTIVITIES OF THE NEW INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE FOR THE SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA PROFESSIONALS IN THESSALONIKI, GREECE.

BOTH THE SAFETY FOR JOURNALISTS TRAINING SCHOOL AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE ARE SUPPORTED BY THE PEACE JOURNALISM LABORATORY AT ARTISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI, WHERE RESEARCH INCLUDES WORK ON INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM, PEACE JOURNALISM AND REPORTING ON UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS.

Description

War reporters today face a significant number of unprecedented challenges on the field. They find themselves strangling to satisfy basic physical needs and personal security, while at the same time they have to deal with an extremely complicated information environment. The unexpected development of Russian invasion in Ukraine has brought the profession of war correspondent in the foreground once more.

Story
Peace Journalism Lab committed to its values and in the framework of UNAI, has taken the initiative, three years ago, to create an innovative training program for professional and young reporters that are interested in visiting war zones, that has been proven to be really helpful for practitioners. The program, has been suspended due to Covid19 restrictions, but has made a very successful comeback last year. As per our committed and responding to the high demand, it will be available on an annual basis, aiming to provide professionals and young students with all the necessary knowledge to cope with the challenges they are going to face in the contemporary field of conflict.

Curriculum

The curriculum includes two basic parts, those of theoretical and intensive field training. A number of issues will be presented to the participants, including:

Introduction to the environment
Challenges & evolutions in reporting war and crises
Law of armed conflict
Field safety
Dealing with fixers
Hostile Environment Awareness training (HEAT)
Data security
Health, epidemics and stress management
Administrative paperwork basics
Dealing with trauma

“Safety for Journalists”
Training School 2022

Trainers

Learn more about the trainers of the
“Safety for Journalists” Training School

Nikos S. Panagiotou
Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Dr. Nikos S. Panagiotou is Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has been a DAAD Scholar at Deutsche Welle, Chevening Scholar of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK, RCAP Scholar from APU University Japan, Scholar to Beijing Foreign Studies University, Scholar at Sabanci University (Turkey), Scholar of the State of Luxembourg. He has an extensive research work which has been funded from Google (DNI Initiative fund). He is the initiator and organizer of Thessaloniki International Media Summer Academy and in charge of Digital Communication Network Global and Director of Peace Journalism Lab School of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University. He has a track record research and project work regarding disinformation, Fake News Hunters, Refugees against disinformation etc.
Christos Frangonikolopoulos
Professor of International Relations at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Aristotle University and Holder of the Jean Monnet Chair on European Integration Journalism
Christos Frangonikolopoulos is Professor of International Relations at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Aristotle University and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair on European Integration Journalism. He is also the Director of the English-taught Master of Arts (MA) in Digital Media, Communication and Journalism at the University of Aristotle is the first of its kind among Greek public Universities. He studied Politics and Government (BA Honors) and International Relations (PhD) at the University of Kent at Canterbury (England).
Ilias D. Nikezis
Military Public Affairs practitioner
Dr. Ilias D. Nikezis is a Military Public Affairs practitioner. He graduated from the Hellenic Military Academy. He has taken part in peace operations and served as United Nations Military Observer. Additionally, to relevant military training in Public Affairs and Strategic Communications, he holds a Master of Arts in Digital Media, Communication and Journalism, specialized in risk communication and crisis journalism, by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication of AUTH, and Ph.D. in the field of media, war and conflict.
He is a senior member of the International and Peace Journalism Laboratory, founding member of the International Center for the Safety of Journalists and Media Professionals and organizer of the Safety for Journalists Training School. His field of research interest lies in interdisciplinary themes such as Strategic Communication and Public Relations, War Reporting, Freedom of Speech, Tackling Disinformation, Informational Resilience, Peace Journalism, Media Role in Crisis Management.
Aphrodite Salas
Assistant Professor at Concordia University
Aphrodite Salas is a veteran journalist with decades of experience in news and feature reporting. The majority of her on-air career was with Canada's largest privately owned network, CTV, where she was a national correspondent, anchor, video journalist and assignment editor in small, medium, large and national markets. Her industry honours include two regional and two national awards for excellence in news reporting.

Aphrodite is now the Graduate Journalism Diploma Program Director at Concordia University, where she continues to produce multimedia projects and documentaries with partners including Indigenous Clean Energy, Journalists for Human Rights and CTV Montreal. Her most recent work is called: “Arctic Shift to Clean Energy,” and shares a story of Inuit climate leadership. The documentary, “Innavik: Leading the way to a clean energy future,” was screened at COP 27, the UN Climate Conference in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, as well as COP 15, the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada.
Yannis Kotsifos
Director, Journalists Union of Macedonia and Thrace/President, ECPMF
Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1969, he has studied Greek Literature and has an MAdegree in Digital Media, Communication and Journalism, Pathway: EuropeanJournalism He lives and works in the city and is the director general of the Journalists’ Union of Macedonia and Thrace (ESIEMTH) and its Cultural Foundation.Having worked as a journalist in both newspapers and radio, he has also edited numerous books and collaborated with various magazines, either as a contributing editor or as an editor-at-large, or as both. Since 2013 he is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). From November 2020until March 2023 he chaired the Executive Board of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). As ESIEMTH director he has coordinated numerous projects regarding journalists’ training, media literacy, diversity reporting and ethics.
Christos Smilianis
Training projects manager in the Greek Army
Christos Smilianis is a training projects manager in the Greek Army with specialisation and experience in Strategic Communications and Military Public Affairs. He is a PhD candidate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Strategic Communications and PhD Fellow in the Doctoral school of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC).

Serves in the Hellenic MPSOTC and has planned, organised and conducted dozens of international training courses, seminars and other events. He represents his Unit in media engagements and in parallel is a media trainer who has instructed in several courses of training institutes from around the world.

He holds a Bachelor in Science from the Hellenic Military Academy and a Master of Arts in “Digital media, Communication and Journalism" from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Additionally he is a PhD Fellow in the European Doctoral school on CSDP at European Security & Defence College.
Andreas Veglis
Head of Media Informatics Lab, School of Journalism & MC, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Greece
Andreas Veglis is a Professor of media technology, and head of the Media Informatics Lab at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has served as and editor, member of scientific board and reviewer in various academic journals. Prof Veglis has more than 150 peer-reviewed papers on media technology and journalism. Specifically, he is the author or co-author of 12 books, he has published 74 papers on scientific journals and he has presented 125 papers in international and national Conferences. Prof Veglis has been involved in 30 national and international research projects. His research interests include information technology in journalism, new media, data journalism, big data, social media, open data and fake news - verification.
Georgios Terzis
Professor in Communications at the Brussels School of Governance
Georgios Terzis is a Professor in Communications at the Brussels School of Governance. He did postdoctoral research at University of Pennsylvania and University of Oxford on media, security and ethnopolitical conflict, he received his Ph.D. in Communication Science from the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel, and he studied Journalism and Mass Communication in Greece, UK, USA and The Netherlands.
Throughout his academic career his research focused on media and war, research and media ethics, media governance, , disinformation and media literacy, risk and crisis communication, the role of art and culture in conflict resolution, cultural diplomacy, and the right not to access the internet.
He has been teaching and doing research in communication departments of many universities for more than 25 years. He has been involved in more than 20 international research projects and networks. He is also the founding Chair of the Journalism Studies Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association. Before starting his academic career he worked as a foreign correspondent in Brussels reporting on EU and NATO, as well as training foreign correspondents on EU affairs while working for the European Journalism Centre.
Signe Ivask
Researcher, lecturer at the University of Tartu
Signe Ivask (PhD) is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Tartu and an assistant professor at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. Her topics cover journalism studies, reporting, news sociology and routines, journalists’ well-being and working conditions. She finished her postdoctoral research at Masaryk University, the Czech Republic, on the topic of (local) journalists’ well-being: working conditions (including digitalisation), support from the organisation and journalists’ working routines (including decision-making). Her PhD is from the University of Tartu, where she defended her dissertation on “The role of routines, demands and resources in work stress among Estonian journalists”. She has expertise as a newspaper and radio journalist and freelancer for over a decade.
Pantelis Vatikiotis

Assistant Professor, Director of Journalism Lab (J-Lab), Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences

Dr. Pantelis Vatikiotis is Assistant Professor and Director of Journalism Lab (J-Lab) at the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, and he is a Visiting Professor at the inter-University MSc program “Media & Refugee/Migration Flows”, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens & University of Aegean. He has also taught at: Kadir Has University, Istanbul; Izmir University of Economics (Turkey), University of Ioannina; Business College of Athens; New York College of Athens (Greece), University of Westminster, London (UK); and, he has professional experience in mass media (SKAI TV). He has published on topics relating to media and democracy, journalism, new communication technologies, alternative media, social movements and activism, including book chapters and journal articles in international academic publications.
Athina Simatou
PhD candidate at the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of the Panteion University
Athina Simatou is a PhD candidate at the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of the Panteion University of Athens and a grantee of the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece. Her supervisor is Prof. N. Bakounakis and her PhD research is on “Journalistic narratives and Human Rights in War”. Within its context, Athina has travelled to Argentina, Qatar and Uganda, where she has conducted several academic and research activities. Her academic background in law and social sciences has played a key role in her participation in various projects concerning human rights, equality, diversity and intercultural communication.
Stavros Ioannidis
News Editor
SKAI Group - CNN Greece
Multimedia journalist reporting for Greek and foreign media. Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs accredited journalist in the leading Media Group SKAI TV, SKAI Radio and CNN Greece.
Media and Communications Manager at Athens Flying Week – Tanagra International Air Show.Flexible and self-motivated he has been traveling in Greece and abroad delivering international affairs, diplomacy, defense industry and military stories, videos, and live coverage. Since February 2022, he has been covering the Russian invasion in Ukraine, delivering stories, videos, and live coverage from the war, based in Mariupol, Kiev and Lviv. Since 2006, he has been working for SKAI Media Group as a Journalist, Anchor and Political Correspondent. He is also a contributing editor for Kathimerini Newspaper. He has worked for the Hellenic Public TV & Radio, Political.gr, Reader.gr and foreign media. Stavros Ioannidis holds a BA in Journalism and Mass Media from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is fluent in English.
Lambrini Papadopoulou
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Lambrini Papadopoulou (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Her area of specialization focuses on media political economy, alternative journalism and press freedom. She has cooperated with the Council of Europe, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and the International Press Institute on various projects aiming to enhance press freedom and media pluralism. Her work has been published, among others, in Digital Journalism, Journalism and Journalism Practice.
Vasileios Zalidis
Military Legal Advisor, Greece
Dr. Vasileios Zalidis is a Military Legal Advisor at Hellenic Armed Forces, currently posted as Senior Legal Advisor at NRDC-GREECE. He graduated from the Hellenic Military Academy of Combat Support Officers (2003). He holds BAs in Law Studies (2003) as well as in International and European Studies (2010) from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Panteion University of Athens, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree (Cum Laude) from the Law Department of the Democritus Univeristy of Thrace, while he holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from the same University.
Dr Vasileos ZALIDIS is an adjunct Lecturer at the University of Macedonia, teaching International Humanitarian Law at the undergraduate Programme of Studies of the Departrment of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies. He also lectured in many academic and professional institutions both around Greece and abroad. These include the Law Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Law Department of the Democritus University of Thrace and the Department of Law of the University of Cyprus. Moreover, he attends as an instructor various military academies, war colleges and specialized training centers, such as NATO School Oberammergau (Germany), RACVIAC Centre for Security Cooperation (Croatia), Hellenic Supreme Joint War College and Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center (Greece). He has many publications both in English and Greek and he is co-editor to the Hellenic Manual on the Law of Armed Conflicts. His field of research interest lies in the International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law and Operational Law.
Alexandros A. Toumpelis
Training Director at Meducation – International Medical Training Institute

Alexandros is a registered paramedic and nurse with a license to teach as an adult trainer in the medical field. In his early life, he understood his passion for emergency prehospital care and he followed a pathway in order to become an emergency care practitioner. He studied Paramedicine and Operating Theater Nursing in Greece and gained a scholarship for Paramedic Studies at West Midland Ambulance Services (WMAS) NHS Trust in the UK. He specialized in emergency rescue in a variety of fields such as offshore medicine, CBRNe, mountains, hostile areas, telemedicine, VIP medical protection, and disasters. He has been a guest instructor in the Hellenic MPSOTC (Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center), which is a NATO-UN-OSCE approved training center in medical modules, since 2014, and he has also taught in Hellenic Police Special Forces Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Courses since 2015. He has thousands of teaching hours in the medical field, and he is a writer of medical handbooks.
Filippos Chalaris
Head of Information Technology Department, Hellenic Presidency of the Government

Filippos Chalaris has been Head of the Information Technology Department in the Hellenic Presidency of the Government, Secretariat General for Prime Minister since 2021.

His current duties include the administration, monitoring, maintenance and sustainability of the Informative Systems of his Organization.
Before his current position, he has been an employee in the IT Maintenance and Support Department of the Ministry of Justice (2018 - 2021).
He holds a University Degree from the Hellenic Open University, specialising in the Administration of Integrated Information Systems and Networks.
He has expertise in Cybersecurity, Strategic Communications and Psychological Operations.
He also οrganizes and conducts specialised educational seminars and courses.
Ioannis Tortzis
Head of Civil Defense Department, Hellenic Presidency of the Government
Ioannis Tzostzis is Head of the Civil Defense Department in the Hellenic Presidency of the Government, specialising in Operational Planning and Intelligence and has expertise in Strategic Communications and Psychological Operations. He serves in the Presidency of the Government, Secretariat General for Prime Minister as Head of the Civil Defense Department, Securing the Resilience of his Organization and Information Protection against any potential threats. He has conducted, planned and Executed several missions in Conflict Zones and Areas of Unrest. He leads, and instructs specialised training courses, seminars and events in his organisation.

This training school is a unique opportunity to benefit from the Organizers outstanding experience in war journalism/risk communication combined with the expertise of military professionals. The program is structured around keynote presentations by distinguished experts, roundtable discussions and intensive field training. The course will be run with a mix-method teaching style and includes lectures, discussion, field training, policy lab, and hands-on practicum. Sessions will be led by experts from across communication and military fields.

Who can apply to the “Safety for Journalists” Training Program?

The “Safety for Journalists” Training School aims to select a total number of 35 participants, who have the following background:

Professionals from media and other related organisations, who need a deeper understanding of the issues to be addressed
Ph.D/ Master/ Bachelor students of Journalism, International relations, etc

Participation: 800 euros

( The participation fee includes administrative costs and accommodation (half-board))

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