SEMES trains journalists working in hostile areas

Share

TwitterFacebookLinkedin

For another edition, IES Medica collaborates with the tactical healthcare course for journalists in high-risk environments, taught by the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES).

  • In this training, which will be held on June 7, 8 and 9 in Madrid, within the framework of the 33rd National SEMES Congress
  • Journalists will be able to learn everything from first aid techniques to tactical strategies for protection and response to an attack,
  • The team of instructors is made up of members of the Security Forces and emergency personnel.

According to SEMES, the first thing taken into account when developing this training "was the danger inherent in carrying out a professional activity such as journalism in conflict zones or in areas where security is almost nonexistent due to the country's conditions." The number of journalists killed in 2022 was the highest in the last four years.

Throughout this tactical health course   for journalists, news professionals will acquire skills for travel analysis and developing rescue plans, first aid, and how to respond to a vehicle attack.

Among the first aid skills, they will learn how to apply a tourniquet (both commercial and improvised), hemostatic agents, and pressure bandages—skills that can save their lives in the event of an accident or attack. They will also be able to attend an airway workshop.

IES Medical, specializing in emergency and tactical medicine products, provides the materials used during the course.

According to the latest figures provided by RSF (Reporters Without Borders), 58 journalists were killed in 2022, a 13.7% increase compared to the previous year, which resulted in 51 deaths. In total, an average of 80 journalists are killed each year.

According to SEMES, the course took into account "the incident scenarios and current training programs developed around the security of organizations and institutions to adapt the training to the special needs that journalism in these types of environments entails."