Journalism training program opens in Beijing

A training program on reporters' safety organized by the World Media Summit (WMS) Secretariat was launched in Beijing on Monday.

The training focuses on practical strategies for journalists working in hostile environment featuring war, conflict, plague and natural disasters.

The program is being attended by 50 journalists with news organizations from 30 countries, including Afghanistan's Bakhtar News Agency, the Middle East News Agency and the Quryna Libyan Newspaper.

Senior professionals from WMS secretariat members -- the Xinhua News Agency, Reuters, AP, Itar-Tass, BBC, CNN, News Corporation and Al Jazeera -- will give lectures.

Zhou Zongmin, secretary-general of the WMS Secretariat, said journalism is one of the most dangerous businesses in the world, thus the protection of journalists' safety is a daunting challenge.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, a total of 2,270 media professionals have been killed in action since 1990, he noted.

The need to launch this training was a consensus reached by co-chairs of the World Media Summit during the WMS presidium meeting last September.

The World Media Summit, launched by Xinhua and eight other major media organizations, was first held in Beijing in October, 2009, and attended by about 300 representatives from more than 170 media outlets around the world. The Al Jazeera Network and the New York Times Company joined the presidium in 2010 and 2011.