EFJ Interviewed CBLocal Grantees

Brussels - Local Cross-Border Journalism (CBLocal) grant programme partner, European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), interviewed two CBLocal grantees, Carolina Rapezzi, a freelance photojournalist and Daniela Sala a journalist from FADA Collective.

They were asked about journalists' safety and how EFJ's safety training programme assisted them in becoming more aware of their own safety when working in the field. The grantees were asked about "perception of safety, where they’ve received advice from in the past and what they thought about the online safety course."

A 2022 EFJ survey found that "media professionals seriously lack training and awareness while threats and intimidation at work are increasing." These findings spawned CBLocal to integrate "an important element of journalists’ safety in its grant programme" and give its grantees the opportunity to learn about journalists' safety through comprehensive, detailed and free safety training programme led by media safety expert David Bevan, Al Jazeera security advisor and various prominent international journalists.

According to Rapezzi, she had always taken her personal safety "a priority." Her colleagues support is vital to her continued success as a journalist. Sala added that she was always aware of safety when she's reporting in the field but mostly through her peers and colleagues. They both found the safety training programme through CBLocal very useful as "it provided manuals with detailed information I can always go back to," Carolina said while Sala continued by saying that it "was yet another valuable opportunity to reflect on the importance of taking safety into account."

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Photo by EFJ