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Radio Justice Magazine – New BIRN Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina

10 06 2009  In August the BIRN Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina will start broadcasting a weekly ten-minute radio magazine on war-crimes trials.  

The BIRN Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina will mark the first anniversary of its Radio Justice programme in the near future. The programme has been well received by colleague reporters as well as the domestic BiH audience and the Diaspora.  

Motivated by this positive response and constructive criticism, the BIRN Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina has decided to start a weekly magazine on the trials conducted before the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The ten-minute magazine will be broadcast on our partnering radio stations starting in the  August.  

The BIRN Office produced its first audio reports back in October 2007. Originally it made a series of radio stories on the status of the local judiciary. The BIRN team of journalists visited courts and prosecutors’ offices in nine towns all across the country. The stories were broadcast by radio stations throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

In August 2008 we started broadcasting daily news on war-crimes trials conducted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Every day the BIRN team produces at least two audio reports, which are then broadcast by about 130 radio stations in the country, as well as some stations outside BiH. 

From the very beginning the stories have been well received. Salih Cavkic, Editor of ORBUS – The Voice of the Diaspora in Belgium, wrote to us saying that the written and audio reports, published by BIRN have “a historical value to future generations”. 

“These reports will serve future generations and historical experts in their research on what has been done in the field of war-crimes processing, just as people have used audio reports or written reports on the trials of Nazi leaders conducted before the Nurnberg Court… People who read or listen to your reports often ask how the BIRN editors and journalists can deal with the difficult stories on war crimes, considering the fact that many of us find it hard to read them. You really deserve praise for your work and achievements, as well as for what you are planning to do in the future,” the ORBUS Editor’s letter reads. 

Our work has been commended by the editorial staff of Mostar Radio and Television. 

“These reports are of great importance to the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We intend to broadcast them in our radio and TV shows,” their letter says. 

We were contacted by BH Radio 1 Editor Samir Husejnovic, who told us that BH Radio 1 is “using the BIRN audio reports every day. I consider them as extremely informative and objective.” 
The TNT Radio from Travnik also commended our work. 
“The fact that the BIRN Office offers its audio reports to radio stations in the country in an adjusted form and of extremely good quality is very significant,” the TNT Radio representatives said. 
Our work has also been supported by Kenan Cerimagic, NTV Hayat Editor, who expressed interest in broadcasting our audio reports as part of the TV station’s news programme. 
Radio Justice was initiated with the aim of making the Justice Report stories, produced in written form, accessible to a larger number of people who are interested in following the trials conducted before the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
For four years Justice Report has covered the trials conducted before the Chamber. All reports are published on our web page: www.bim.ba, but they are also conveyed through numerous print and electronic media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region and elsewhere. Our page receives more than 10,000 hits each month. 

Radio Justice is broadcast in local language, but the written reports are published in local language and English. 

Because of the achievements of Justice Report, it became possible to launch the Radio Justice project, which has generated considerable public interest from the very beginning.

Since August 2008 we have published 253 reports, which have been broadcast on radio and TV. All our written and audio reports are provided free of charge.

Our estimates show that Radio Justice reaches about one million listeners.

The BIRN team guarantees that Justice Report and Radio Justice reports are objective, timely and of the highest quality. 

Radio Justice reports are broadcast by the following stations: BH Radio 1, RTRS, NTV Hayat, Studio 88 – Mostar, Studio 99  - Sarajevo, ATV – Banja Luka, Radio Glas BiH – USA, Novi radio Bihac, Radio Bijeljina, Radio Bihac, Radio Bobar, Radio Herceg Bosna, Radio Bratunac, Obiteljska radio-televizija Valentino – Brcko, Radio Brcko, Radio Hit Brcko, Radio Breza, RTV Bugojno, Radio Cazin, Radio Stari Grad, Radio Doboj, Radio Doboj Jug, Radio Glas Drine, Radio Federacije, RTV Gorazde, Nezavisni radio Feral, Radio Gracanica, Radio Mrkonjic Grad, Radio Ask Ilidza, Radio Ilijas, RTV Jajce, Radio Jelah, NTV IC Kakanj, TV Kiss – Kiseljak, Radio Velika Kladusa, Radio Kljuc, RTV Konjic, Radio Bosanska Krupa, Kontakt – Banja Luka, RTV Maglaj, Radio Milici, NTV 101 – Sanski Most, Radio Sana – Sanski Most, Radio Stari Most – Mostar, Oscar C – Mostar, RTV Mostar, Radio Nes – Banja Luka, Radio Orasje, Radio Praca, Radio Prijedor, Radio Fenix – Prijedor, Cikago RTV – USA, Glas Drine – Sapna, Radio Sipovo, Radio Slon – Tuzla, Radio Srbac, Studio D – Srebrenik, Radio Stolac, Radio Tesanj, TNT – Travnik, Radio Novi Travnik, Radio Trebinje, RTV Tuzla, VIKOM – Visoko, Radio Visegrad, TV Jasmin – Vitez, RTV Vogosca, BM radio Zenica, RTV Zenica, Radio Osvit – Zvornik…

Inspired by the success of our print and audio reports, the BIRN Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina intends to start a new project called TV Justice – half-hour TV programmes which will be provided free of charge to local TV stations for broadcasting.