An all-round safety training course for journalists reporting live in times of trouble HEST has become the reference course in Europe
The safety of journalists has become a crucial concern for chief editors and their teams. Preventive training is an essential first step to an integrated solution. >> overall presentation Over 100 professionals were killed in 2004 in conflict zones. The safety of journalists has become a crucial concern for chief editors and their teams. Preventive training is an essential first step to an integrated solution. HEST - Hostile Environment Safety Training - was set up by EBU TRAINING in 2004. It is a course that fits with the demanding work of journalists. Through a mix of hands-on exercises, presentations, discussions and role plays, reporters are trained during four days on how to face danger and how to overcome the ensuing risks. This course is for in-house as well as freelance reporters who work for Radio and Television. The concerns of female journalists have also been thought through. 
Target audience
| – | All media journalists and reporters | | – | Cameramen, producers and engineers | | – | 14 participants max. |
What outcome for you | – | To facilitate the work of journalists/reporters working in a hostile environment and help them identify their strengths and weaknesses. | | – | To provide journalists/reporters with useful skills and tools for handling stress, keeping safe & healthy, preventing danger and operating securely in hostile environment. |
Course structure Day 1: Foundation
Lectures on:
– Situation awareness and personal security (physical integrity and possessions) illustrated with real-life scenarios.
– Planning and preparing a story (including risk assessment, sourcing local intelligence, assessing local contacts).
– Basic life-support course (breathing, gunshot wounds, control of bleeding, burns, shock).
– Avoiding kidnap, surviving abduction: how to survive in captivity.
– Stress management / Post-traumatic stress disorder. Day 2: Urban
Focus on practical training in civil disturbances.
Participants will have to identify, film/record, edit and feed a story while facing the following challenges:
– Ballistics awareness and selecting protective cover.
– Conflict management and defusing confrontation.
– Civil disturbance and riots; working securely in crowds.
– Negotiating urban checkpoints (by vehicle and on foot).
– Car bombs, blast injuries and stabbing. Day 3: Rural
Focus on practical training in a conflict environment.
Participants will have to identify, film/record, edit and feed a story while facing the following challenges:
– Mine, booby-trap and improvized explosive devices.
– Checkpoints (illegal, militia, conventional forces): techniques for negotiating safe passage and identifying early escalating dangers.
– Reacting under fire, surviving ambush and use of ground. Day 4: Consolidation
Techniques consolidated with discussion and further practice:
– Practical exercise in an integrated rural/urban scenario.
– Navigation (astral, map and compass, GPS, survival navigation techniques).
– Intermediate life-support instruction, complementing basic course from Day 1.
– Discussion of team and personal issues raised during the course. Trainer team Objective Team is our partner on all EBU Safety training courses. The team includes:
Former senior officers, trainers and operators from the British Special Forces, front-line media professionals, specialists in technical and IT security and medial experts.
Registration fee EBU Members and freelancers sponsored by a member: 3200 Euros/pers. Non-members: 4750 Euros/pers.
The fee includes all course material, meals, accommodation and transfer from/to the airport. It does not include international travel expenses. An invoice will be issued and sent to you to the above mentioned address unless specified otherwise. Payment is due upon receipt of invoice by bank transfer to the account mentioned on the invoice. Cancellations will not be refunded but we will be pleased to welcome an alternative delegate. | 
