Summary
The Paper Trail Investigations is a project by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN Kosovo and BIRN HUB – to promote the rule of law, accountability, and transparency in the Balkans and Moldova.
Information Sheet
Purpose of the program: Exposing wrongdoings of the governments, public and private companies, as well as individuals, through the promotion of the rule of law, accountability and transparency
Specific Objectives:
Exposing wrongdoings of public institutions, public or private companies, and individuals, through multimedia investigations, in-depth analysis of institutions’ openness to freedom of information requests, and the establishment of an online database.
Main Activities:
- Implementing investigative projects.
- Two televised debates and reports produced and broadcasted.
- Cross-border report on institutions’ compliance with Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation.
- Creating an online, searchable database of documents obtained using FoI legislation in each country.
- Workshops and on-the-job training for journalists.
Target Groups:
Through the extensive use of public documents, the investigations are exposing wrongdoing in government, public and private companies and among powerful individuals.
The project also addresses the transparency of public institutions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Moldova.
As part of our drive for openness, we have also established a free, user-friendly, searchable online library of public documents and scraped databases, BIRN Source.
Working with some of the biggest names in international journalism, BIRN has produced dozens of hard-hitting investigations which are reshaping the public perceptions of their governments, business elites, and journalism.