NUJ and Centre for Investigative Journalism – free training

Introduction to privacy and information security: concepts and tools

Wednesday 17 September 2014 18.30 until 20.30

Where

NUJ Headland House, 308-312 Gray’s Inn Road, London

Details

This free workshop for NUJ members will give attendees an overview of the range of threats from public and private organisations and the various measures to deal with them.

The trainer will look at what tools to use (and not use) under certain conditions and how to defeat state-level attacks against your communications on a shoestring budget.

While many of the threats to electronic communications have been discussed for decades, the revelations made by Edward Snowden last year have shown us the scope and scale of the intrusion on our basic rights as humans and journalists.

As a journalist you need to be able to protect your sources, yourself and your story (in that order). This means securing both content and meta-data relating to any communications you have with them by electronic or other means. In the future the ability of a journalist to effectively do this could determine if sources come to them or not.

Glen Greenwald was almost passed over for the scoop of a lifetime because he did not have encrypted email on his laptop at the time Snowden was trying to contact him.

After the introduction to basic theory and time for a Q&A, the various tools that can be used will be discussed. This discussion will include tools to browse anonymously, chat and mail with encryption and prevent data-loss from theft/confiscation of laptops and storage media (the TOR-browser, Truecrypt, GPG mailcrypto etc).

A slightly more advanced practical workshop will be held in the future - if you are interested in the hands-on infosec labs please email minal@tcij.org

The NUJ and the Centre for Investigative Journalism have co-organised this free event for NUJ members.

The event is primarily directed towards journalists, NGO workers and activists.

To register please email: sarahk@nuj.org.uk with the number of places and names for the booking.

This event will be held subject to a minimum number of registrations and will be confirmed by Friday 12 September.

The Trainer

Arjen Kamphuis is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Gendo. He studied science and policy at Utrecht University and worked for IBM and Twynstra Gudde as IT architect, trainer and IT strategy advisor. Since late 2001 Arjen is working independently and advises clients on the strategic impact of new technological developments.

New handbook available

Information Security for Journalists
By Silkie Carlo and Arjen Kamphuis

This handbook is a very important practical tool for journalists and it is of particular importance to investigative reporters. For the first time journalists are now aware that virtually every electronic communication we make or receive is being recorded, stored and subject to analysis and action. As this surveillance is being conducted in secret, without scrutiny, transparency or any realistic form of accountability, our sources, our stories and our professional work itself is under threat.

After Snowden’s disclosures we know that there are real safeguards and real counter measures available. The CIJ’s latest handbook, Information Security for Journalists, lays out the most effective means of keeping your work private and safe from spying. It explains how to write safely, how to think about security and how to safely receive, store and send information that a government or powerful corporation may be keen for you not to know, to have or to share. To ensure your privacy and the safety of your sources, Information Security for Journalists will help you to make your communications indecipherable, untraceable and anonymous.

For more information, please visit the CIJ's website.

Event details on the NUJ website, please share with colleagues and NUJ members: http://www.nuj.org.uk/events/introduction-to-privacy-and-information-security-concepts-and/

NUJ launches new range of professional courses

Whether you want to learn to build a website, take high-quality pictures on your smartphone, become a video-journalist, travel writer, publish a book or add PR skills to your freelance portfolio, the NUJ can help.

The union has a new programme of training courses, tutored by experts in their fields, to suit all abilities which will improve your professional skills. These one and two-day practical courses are at special rates for NUJ members. More courses, including shorthand, will begin later this year.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: "Keeping your journalism and technical skills up to date are vital in today's fast-moving industry. Journalists increasingly have to create portfolio careers, using their journalistic skills in a range of ways. The union's competitively-priced training courses will help you to keep on top of technology changes and add new professional strings to your bow. Our tutors are all journalists with a great wealth of experience and they will ensure you finish the course with new skills to enhance your career."

Chris Wheal, chair of the NUJ's professional training committee, said: "We have the latest journalism skills taught by experts at their craft, covering everything from traditional shorthand to modern-day mobile reporting. I am signing up for several courses to update my skills."

The full selection of training opportunities – for professional and trade union training – can be found on the NUJ website http://www.nuj.org.uk/work/training/ The NUJ can organise bespoke training for groups of members, chapels or branches when there is no specific course available to meet their needs. Contact training@nuj.org.uk to find out more.

• Adding PR to your portfolio: this course will teach you to use your journalistic skills to deliver professional PR.
• Travel writing workshop: get an insight into what travel editors are looking for, how to find story ideas, get noticed by travel PRs and how to write engaging copy.
• Video-journalism: this one-day course will help you feel confident when your boss sends you out with a notebook and a camera. You will discover the secrets of getting the best shots and how to organise your shoot so it will be easy to edit.
• Feature writing: learn how to put together a great feature that keeps readers transfixed and editors returning for more.
• Getting started with InDesign: this one-day course will enable you to make up pages from scratch, import and format text, headlines and pictures. You will also create your own keyboard short-cuts and set up a personal library.
• Advanced InDesign – from concept to print-ready files: you will learn how to set up a publication from scratch and send it to press.
• Getting the most out of trade and business journalism: this class is aimed at existing trade writers looking to sharpen or focus their skills, generalists intending to move into business, or beginners hoping to get into one the largest and most resilient sectors of journalism.
• Build yourself a website that costs less than £50: after this two-day course you will leave with a working website and the knowledge to expand it and refine it later.
• Online journalism: learn how to curate and aggregate web content, add images, video and audio and master basic HTML coding. You will also learn to use social media to promote your web content.
• Developing Digital Photographs with Adobe Lightroom: learn what is quickly becoming the industry-standard editing software for press photographers.
• Getting More (Time, Work & Income) from Adobe Lightroom 5: this one-day advanced course shows how photographers can utilise the software to enhance their creativity and use it to increase their income.
• Press and editorial photography with basic cameras: this one-day, hands-on workshop will show you how to transform photography, using inexpensive “compact” or smartphone cameras, into high-quality images.
• Boosting your income through book publishing: this guides you step-by-step through the stages to publication, beginning with finding the right project, the best route to publication and how to market your book.
• Data Journalism: learn how data can produce off-diary stories that go unreported because most people will not or cannot do the maths; all you need to know about Freedom of Information requests; and how to combine data sets without getting egg on your face.
• Improving your English broadcasting skills: whether you are a foreign journalist looking to improve your English broadcasting skills, or a print journalist wanting to learn key tips, this course will improve your presentation style.
• Getting started as a freelance: covers the ground that freelances, and people thinking of going freelance, need to be aware of, from interacting with editors, doing deals that stick, copyright law, finance and tax and how to make sure clients pay up.
• Pitch and deal: This one-day course can help freelances market their work and negotiate better deals for themselves. It includes understanding the psychology of pitching and dealing, interacting with editors and asking for more money.

Training courses fees
One-day course: NUJ member £175; unemployed NUJ member or student £100, GFTU affiliate £200, non-member £275. Two-day course: NUJ member £300, unemployed NUJ member or student, £150, GFTU affiliate £350, non-member £400.

Getting started as a freelance and Pitch and deal form part of the NUJ trade union training programme and are therefore discounted. NUJ member: £70; NUJ student member/unemployed member: £60; non-members/GFTU affiliate: £130.