Resources for media in conflict zones
Journalists and media professionals are crucial to inform the millions of people impacted by crisis and emergency situations, including those in or fleeing war. People need to know what danger to avoid or where to go for medicine, food, shelter and other. When all around is shattered down, broadcasters ensure that civilians have access to life-saving information and debunk disinformation and rumors.
However, military operations and escalation of violence represent a major threat for media. Be them local or foreign media, the impossibility or difficulty to access the studios, the destruction of media equipment and the obligation to hide affect their capacity to deliver information to the population - and demands they adapt to precarious means.
Journalists need to know how to adapt to the situation and continue broadcasting with limited equipment. Producing content in the event of emergencies was precisely the theme of the 2021 Remote Radio Week organized by UNESCO.
During this online training programme, experts from around the world explored solutions, techniques, technologies and best practices that allow radio stations to remain reliable or change the way they operate within emergency situations.
Some of those useful resources for radio are published below.
10 apps for radio journalists (Remote Radio Week 2021)
In this presentation, Corinne Podger from Digital Skills Agency in Australia reveals the best 10 apps for mobile journalism, and how “Smartphones put a whole studio in the pocket of not just video journalists but also radio reporters.”
Free, open source radio tools (Remote Radio Week 2021)
Rob Hopkins, founder of the Radio-in-a-box, also a veteran broadcasting consultant for several countries in crisis, gives precious tools to journalists in emergency situations.
Mojo - mobile journalism (Inexpensive/ using the bare minimum) (Remote Radio Week 2021)
A focus on mobile journalism, “which some people say is radio on the cheap, but actually is radio that gets to places old fashion radio can’t reach”, as explained by Lawrie Hallett, Senior Lecturer in Radio & Journalism at the University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
Why should radio broadcasters make use of the cloud? Archiving content (Remote Radio Week 2021)
Rob Hopkins from OpenBroadcaster explores the potential of cloud services for radio broadcasters, with a focus on maintenance and security.
Extending delivery of broadcast (or radio) content to new platforms (Remote Radio Week 2021)
Corinne Podger, from Digital Skills Agency in Australia, explores the possibilities to broadcast content on Clubbhouse, Twitter spaces, Facebook live and others, and explains the potential (and limitations) of these social platforms to reach wider audiences.
Cybersecurity / Data privacy (Remote Radio Week 2021)
Canadian journalist and podcaster Bruno Guglielminetti, also an expert in new technologies and digital media, gives essential advice for broadcasters to secure their data.