Staff and students from our journalism courses have joined refugee journalists from Afghanistan, Qatar and Iran at the London College of Communication.
BA Journalism course leader Justine Fisher led a video skills workshop, supported by MA Journalism student Maddie Pritchard, MA Sport Journalism student Tai Kolade and SAM Technical Demonstrator Tom Truscott.
Justine was invited to work with the participants by project director Vivienne Francis. Set up by Vivienne in 2016, The Refugee Journalism Project supports refugee and exiled journalists to re-start their careers in the UK. It works in partnership with the Migrant Resource Centre and is based at the LCC, part of the University of the Arts London.
Maddie Pritchard said: “It was wonderful to meet so many experienced journalists and hear first-hand the stories which inspire their passion for reporting. I learned a lot about what it means to be driven by personal experience yet maintain objectivity and integrity as a journalist.”
Tai Kolade said: “I found the whole experience a real eye opener. Even though I am training to be a journalist and I engage with issues in the news, a lot of the refugees had actually lived those experiences and it felt so powerful to work with them to help them express their stories in a professional journalistic way. It also allowed me to use many skills which I acquired on the course to help and teach others and that gave me more confidence in my own abilities.”
Both Maddie and Tai will be reporting on the stories of the refugees they met as part of their ongoing journalism and Justine and Vivienne plan more collaborative work on the project in the future.
All the photographs by Tom Truscott.
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