Seventh BIRN Summer School Begins in Bosnia

BIRN’s latest Summer School kicked off on Monday with interactive sessions on data journalism and fact-checking.

Journalists from across Europe and the USA have gathered in historic town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the BIRN Summer School Mater Class of Investigative Journalism.

After greeting this year’s participants, Blake Morrison, the school’s lead trainer and investigative projects editor at Reuters, held an interactive exercise on establishing facts in stories. Morrison showed journalists how to hone in on important details in complex investigations.

The first day continued with an introductory workshop on data journalism with Crina Boros, a watchdog reporter from Centre for Investigative Journalism, during which participants learnt the analytical tools needed for data journalism.

In the afternoon, the participants divided up into smaller group for in-depth sessions with Morrison and Martin Kaiser, a retired editor who led the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to three Pulitzer prizes.

The Summer School is organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Open Society Foundations and USAID Macedonia.

The seventh BIRN Summer School brings together young journalists from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, United Kingdom and United States of America.

Pulitzer Winner Hosts Sessions at BIRN Summer School

BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting will be held from 21 to 27 August in Konjic Bosnia and Herzegovina. In its seventh edition, the School will be organised in the form of Master Class.

The course will include sessions in mastering the latest techniques for searching the web and social media, interviewing techniques, working with sources and how to scale up your investigations generally.

Trainers at this year’s Summer School, as in the previous six years, experienced internationally recognized journalists and editors from Reuters, Columbia University, OCCRP and others.

Lead trainer is Blake Morrison, investigative editor for Reuters, New York.

Social media expert Paul Myers, three time Pulitzer Prize winner Martin Kaiser, Knight Award winner Miranda Patrucic, from OCCRP and Columbia University lecturer Jim Mintz are some of the trainers at the School.

In the afternoon hours trainer will held small group or one-on-one sessions with participnats.

For 20 Balkan journalists BIRN is providing scholarships, while 10 international journalists will need to cover tuition fee.

BIRN is also providing funds for the best story idea. Three best story pitches will be able to get from 1,500 to 3,000 euros.

Participants will also have a bit of time to enjoy rafting down Neretva river and visit Tito’s nuclear bunker.

Applications for scholarships must be received by 20th July 2016.

Sixth BIRN Summer School opens in Albania

BIRN’s summer school for investigative reporting opened in Durres, Albania, with a plea to journalists to channel their curiosity.

Blake Morrison, investigative projects editor at Reuters in New York and the school’s lead trainer, kicked off a packed programme urging journalists to “use our skills of observation, be curious”. 

Morrison detailed how journalist can pinpoint sources and find key information during their investigations.

“People(Sources) will believe you if you really try to understand what the problem is,” he added.

Morrison also explained the importance of careful planning in complex stories.

BIRN journalist and investigations’ editor Lawrence Marzouk presented the school’s investigative fund, which provides grants to promising story ideas.

He said that participants will be split into groups and develop investigative proposals to present to a panel of judges on the final day. Two or three stories will receive funding from a pot of around 6,000 euro so that participants can carry out their investigation.

“I will help you to develop the story,” Lawrence added.

Mar Cabra, who heads ICIJ’s Data & Research Unit, outlined how journalists can find data and the importance of data journalism. She revealed how she had used official statistics to expose the worrying use of psychotropic drugs among children in the US.

“I decided to check how many drugs children in foster care in the state of Texas are prescribed and their use of psychotropic drugs,” Cabra said.

She presented a selection of groundbreaking data stories and emphasized that we need to think about data in every story, because “data is everywhere”.

“Try to do data as much as possible, and not only for clicks, use it for investigation,” she said.

In the afternoon, Philipp Grüll’s documentary “Tito’s Murder Squads – The Killing of Yugoslav Exiles in Germany” was screened.

The first day’s working sessions concluded with a discussion about the use of confidential files with Philipp Grüll, Anuska Delic, investigative and data journalist from Slovenian daily newspaper Delo, Besar Likmeta, BIRN Albanian editor, and Marija Ristic, Balkan Transitional Justice assistant editor.

The sixth BIRN Summer School brings together young journalists from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Austria, Kosovo, Palestine, Germany and Georgia to learn from leading media experts how to use social media to uncover crimes, skills for cracking open offshore companies and how to make reluctant sources talk.

The Summer School of Investigative Reporting 2015 is organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung  and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), Open Society Foundations and USAID Macedonia.

BIRN Summer School Chooses Winning Stories

The three best stories proposed by participants in this year’s Summer School were selected by the jury and will get financial backing from BIRN’s investigative reporting fund.

At the 2014 Summer School closing ceremony on Friday, the jury selected the three top stories from the participating teams of journalists who will now be funded to develop them.

The jury consisted from BIRN managing editor Ana Petruseva, editor Lawrence Marzouk, Guardian correspondent Paul Lewis and Christian Spahr, director of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Media Programme South East Europe.

The top story, which was awarded 2,500, will deal with Roma issues in the Balkans; the second, awarded 2,000 euros, will investigate the wrongdoings of Austrian banks; while the third, awarded 1,000 euros, will tackle corruption cases in Macedonia.

During the five-day training programme in Montenegro, 35 journalists from all over the Balkans and the world had the chance to pick up tips and tools on how to investigate corruption and organised crime cases.

Lectures were given by top trainers in the field from The Guardian, the BBC, OCCRP, Access Europe and others.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the OSCE Presence in Albania, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

Summer School Day 4: Collaborative Reporting on Social Media

Social media can be an important tool for investigative journalists, the fourth day of the BIRN Summer School in Montenegro heard.

The BIRN Summer School began on Thursday, as on previous days this week, with a lecture by The Guardian newspaper’s Washington correspondent Paul Lewis, who explained how social media can help journalists research stories.

Lewis presented two case studies based on stories he published about Ian Tomlinson, who died after being unlawfully struck by a police officer during protests against a G-20 summit, and Jimmy Mubenga, who died on a plane as he was deported from the UK.

“There are so many possibilities for you [journalists] to find sources and stories on social media. This is what we call collaborative reporting,” Lewis said, adding that for many of his articles, information was found and witnesses contacted through various social media channels.

Advising the Summer School students how to approach sources and interview them, Lewis said: “Sometimes it is better not to ask too many questions, but to let people speak.”

During the second part of the day, the Summer School students were split into two workshops to help them to develop their stories for the future. Markus Lindermann taught journalists how to use advanced internet search techniques, while Helen Darbishire explained how to request information from the European Union using freedom of information laws.

The last lecturer on Thursday was a producer from the BBC, Meirion Jones, who introduced techniques for doing investigative stories for television.

Jones explained when and why journalists use hidden cameras for covert filming, and why it is important to have fewer documents in video stories and more people.

“It is very problematic for the viewer to sit and watch your piece if you have more than 30 seconds of documents. Or a lot of numbers. They are the enemies of TV. You need to have people in your video,” Jones said.

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici for the five-day Summer School, aiming to boost their investigative skills.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the OSCE Presence in Albania, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

Summer School Day 3: “Avoid pressure, take time and listen more”

Undercover policing, FIFA corruption and drug cartels were among the themes explored by award-winning journalists at the BIRN summer school of investigative reporting.

The day started with a lecture from Guardian’s Washington correspondent Paul Lewis who spoke about his two-year investigation into undercover policing in the UK.

Addressing journalists about how to carry out a successful interview, Lewis underlined that “there are no universal rules“, but there are some tips for making your source “open up“.

“Avoid pressure, take time and listen more,“ Lewis said.

He also advised journalists to be honest with their source and “never cheat”.

His lecture was followed by a training session held by Sunday Times reporter Heidi Blake who shared how she uncovered evidence of corruption related to Fifa and the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Stevan Dojcinovic from the OCCRP held a lecture about investigating organised crime. He also revealed how he carried out one of his major stories involving drug cartels in the Balkans.

How to monitor websites and access pages that have been deleted or changed was the subject of the last lecture for Wednesday held by Marcus Lindermann.

“The most important thing is to know where to pick up traces and how to follow them. Google can work for you, if you know how to use it,“ Lindermann said.

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici for the five-day summer school, aiming to boost their skills.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, OSCE Mission to Serbia, OSCE Presence in Albania, OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

Summer School Day 2: From UK Riots to Legal Leaks

The UK riots, legal leaks, how to protect sources and tracking money abroad were all explored in the second day of BIRN’s summer school.

Lead teacher and Guardian Washington correspondent Paul Lewis explained how he used data to shed new light on the riots that rocked the UK in 2011.

Lewis showed the journalists how to exploit social media, including verifying information and getting members of the public to help.

 “You should embed the idea of being investigator into your daily work,” said Lewis, explaining that most of his investigations emerged from his daily reporting duties.

His session was followed by a lecture from Helen Darbishire, from the Access Info Europe group, who presented a toolkit called “Legal Leaks”.

“This was designed for journalist so they can know how to ask and get information through freedom of information laws,” Darbishire said.

She added that, on paper, Serbia had the best Freedom of Information law in Europe, while the worst were in Italy and Austria.

Marcus Lindemann explained to students how to use Google’s extensive tools to dig deeper.  

Public records and how to uncover secrets held in tax heaven were the topic of OCCRP’s Paul Radu’s session.

His colleague Miranda Patrucic shared tips and advice on how to approach and protect sources.

“Don’t pressure them for the immediate comment. Deciding to speak out takes time,” Petrucic said.

“Reporters need to build trust and bond with the source,” she added.

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici for the five-day summer school, aiming to boost their skills.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, OSCE Mission to Serbia, OSCE Presence in Albania, OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

BIRN Summer School Kicks off in Montenegro

The fifth BIRN summer school of investigative journalism has opened in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici, bringing together top trainers and journalists.

 

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered on Monday for the five-day summer school, aiming to boost their skills.

The school was kicked off by lead teacher and Guardian journalist Paul Lewis, who will teach students how to think about data in the digital age and use social media to investigate.

The introductory lecture was followed by investigative case studies from BIRN editor Lawrence Marzouk, while in the afternoon participants were given a detailed session in data journalism by Markus Lindemann.

Miranda Petrucic from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project explained to students how she exposed high profile corruption cases in Montenegro.

The day finished with a panel debate focused on the challenges of tackling corruption within the defence and security sector in the Western Balkans.

Alberto Bin, director of Integration, Partnership and Cooperation at NATO, spoke about reforms in South East Europe, while Dina Bajramspahic, from Montenegrin NGO Alternative, and Katarina Djokic, from Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, reflected on the current methods of fighting corruption in their countries.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, OSCE Mission to Serbia, OSCE Presence in Albania, OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

BIRN Summer School Chooses Investigative Story Winners

After five days of intensive training at the fourth annual BIRN Summer School, four groups of reporters whose investigations will be funded were announced at the closing ceremony.

The Summer School jury, composed of lead trainer David Leigh, BIRN regional director Gordana Igric, director of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Media Programme South East Europe Christian Spahr and former BIRN editor Lawrence Marzouk, chose the teams from a total of ten.

The teams’ investigations will be financed from a total fund of 6,000 euro and the resulting stories will be published on the Balkan Insight website.

The participants making up the chosen teams were: Kristina Ozimec, Gabriela Delova, Vlado Apostolov and Sashka Cvetkovska from Macedonia; Alisa Mysliu from Albania; Milena Perovic Korac and Milica Marinovic from Montenegro; Magda Munteanu from Romania; Semir Mujkic from Bosnia and Herzegovina; Flutura Kusari, Arta Avdiu and Una Hajdari from Kosovo, and Charly Loufrani  from France.

For five days last week, participants at the Summer School from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, France, Austria and Estonia learned how to use freedom of information laws, conduct investigative interviews, make the most of computer-assisted reporting, start investigations and put stories together, and more.

This year’s Summer School also had two special guest lecturers, the chief officer of Bari police, Luigi Rinella, and former FBI undercover agent Stephen Salmieri. While Rinella explained how the Italian part of the international investigation into suspected Balkan drugs criminal Darko Saric operated, Salmieri presented necessary skills for undercover work.

This year’s BIRN Summer School was held at Bled Lake in Slovenia.

The BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting 2013 was organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation, the Belgian National Lottery, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and USAID in Macedonia.

Developing Undercover Work at BIRN Summer School

The fourth day of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Summer School programme continued with lectures on undercover operations and research, as well as tips for following paper trails in stories.

Former FBI undercover operative Stephen Salmieri told the journalists participating in the Summer School that undercover investigative work is extremely dangerous, which is why it should be used as sparingly and requires a lot of preparation.

In order to minimise security risks, Salmieri said that journalists working undercover should not change their personality. He also said that journalists should know their targets and research their sources, as well as keep in constant contact with their parent organisation.

“When doing investigations, know everything you can know your enemy. Let go of your ego and reduce tensions. If you come across as aggressive, the situation will quickly escalate,” said Salmieri.

A perfect undercover agent, according to Salmieri, is a smart and aware person who listens carefully.

Two times Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Nalder gave the participants of the Summer School tips on how to gather material evidence and documents from companies and organisations. He emphasised the importance of physically going to organisations, carefully interviewing workers and using psychological tricks to control the communication with them.

Nalder also said that after gathering documents, journalists should organise them carefully.

“Always be organised. Use Excel or other spreadsheets to organise your documents, otherwise you might get lost in them,” said Nalder.

British journalist David Leigh also discussed the need to collect documents, but also highlighted that while writing the story, journalists should make sure to provide readers with several points of access.

“Provide photos, interviews, galleries and short clips. Presentation is key. Your story is useless if it does not reach the public,” said Leigh.

The BIRN Summer School is taking place this week in Slovenia with 30 journalists from Serbia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Austria, Estonia, France and Romania participating. It will finish on Friday.

The BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting 2013 is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation, the Belgian National Lottery, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and USAID in Macedonia.