Another chance for freelance journalists to get hostile environment training

LONDON, ON, March 15, 2016 /CNW/ - The Forum Freelance Fund (FFF) today opened its 2016 competition for bursaries to help freelancers attend hostile environment training. Twenty-one Canadian freelancers or foreign freelancers working for Canadian media have already been helped by the fund. 

The FFF bursary competition is run annually by the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, an educational charity concerned with the physical and mental wellbeing of journalists. 

The Rules for the 2016 competition have been simplified, and details are available on the Forum's website. All FFF bursaries are now worth $CDN2,500 each. 

Last year the Forum inaugurated The Portenier Human Rights Bursary, which is open to freelance journalists and independent documentary-makers of any nationality with projects focused on human rights abuses. This bursary of $CDN3,000 is also for hostile environment training. From this year on, The Portenier will be the subject of a separate competition with a separate jury, and later application dates. 

Both competitions are run in association with the Rory Peck Trust, a U.K. based charity for freelancers.  

The FFF bursaries are sponsored by CBC News and supported by Radio-Canada, CNW Group and individual donors. The Forum as a whole is sponsored by The Globe and Mail.

"The world continues to be a very dangerous place for journalists, who are being killed at an average rate of about 2 per week," said Forum president Cliff Lonsdale. "We don't encourage freelancers to put themselves at risk, but we want to help them prepare for what might confront them at any time." 

Our thanks to CNW Group for supporting this announcement.

SOURCE Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma

For further information: Please see the Canadian Journalism Forum website www.journalismforum.ca or contact Jane Hawkes, Executive Producer, Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, ‪1-519 852-4946, [e-mail]