Author: Aleksandra Vrbica

Online violence and misogyny against women were among the most widespread subjects in the media during the last few years. The 2023 Women, Peace, and Security – WPS index published by the Oslo Institute for Peace Research, PRIO, which ranks and scores 177 countries based on the status of women, placed Kosovo as the 100th country in the world. Consequently, Kosovo finds itself as the second-worst country in Europe for women to live in.

Media as the main source of information, plays a crucial role in creating a collective perception when reporting about women-related topics. Thus, educating journalists about gender-based reporting and sexism is a step to building an unbiased society in the future.

To address the challenges and to create a more comprehensive and professional reporting, on May 23, 2024, BIRN will organize a one-day training module with journalists, and journalism students on gender-based misinformation and issues related to sexism.

This training will gather 27 young and mid-career journalists and students of journalism from different communities, who will have the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge on reporting on issues related to sexism and to use mechanisms and tools to verify and combat gender-based misinformation.

The training module will be delivered by BIRN’s team of award-winning journalists and editors, who have extensive experience in investigating, reporting on, and advocating for fact-checked journalism and gender-based reporting.

Who can apply?

Young and mid-career journalists, students of journalism from across different regions of Kosovo, interested in learning about reporting on gender-based topics and issues related to sexism are eligible to apply in this call.

With a special focus, applicants from marginalized communities, minority ethnic groups and women who fulfill the above-mentioned criteria are encouraged to apply in the call.

To apply for the training session, please click here.

Language:

Simultaneous translation in Albanian, Serbian, and English will be provided.

Location:

This training will be held in Prishtina, Kosovo. Further information regarding the exact location and agenda, will be provided to chosen candidates only.

Deadline for application: May 14, 2024

Date of the training course: May 23, 2024

*This training activity is supported by the UNMIK.

This interactive meeting gathered 13 residents of the village Gorazdevac near the municipality of Peja, out of which 6 were women. The participants shared their experiences of living in a rural part of Kosovo, by emphasizing the lack of essential living conditions such as a good sanitation system, electricity, and the lack of public institutions including kindergartens and youth centers where their residents conduct activities. Overall, the meeting shed light on a load of problems and poor public services in this area.

More specifically, Visar Prebreza, editor-in-chief at BIRN started this gathering by presenting the topic of the discussion and then invited residents to share their concerns and needs on public services. Residents listed several concerns starting from the lack of safety on the roads, especially around school areas and the lack of sidewalks, the troubles with bills on water and electricity, the lack of a proper sanitation system, and the lack of kindergartens that enroll children younger than 3 years old.

Moreover, Darko Dimitrijevic, the executive director of Radio Gorazdevac raised the problem about being the only media in the area and the difficulties to access the information from local or central institutions regarding open calls for subsidies or grants for citizens of Kosovo in agriculture, economy or other social aids as well as other important announcements from the Kosovo institutions. In addition, residents raised concerns about the exclusion of Serbian language in most of the announcements and official documents from Kosovo institutions.

This activity was implemented as part of the “Addressing the situation with public services in war-affected community of Gorazdevac” project implemented by BIRN Kosovo and Radio Gorazdevac supported by Community Building Mitrovica and the American people through USAID in Kosovo.

More specifically, the training focused on the critical issue of reporting on missing persons, encompassing aspects from individual cases to court proceedings, social, political and legal contexts, forensics and medical expert analysis and the challenges faced by affected families. The technical expertise of journalists lies in their ability to research, document, and communicate stories effectively.

The training module was delivered by BIRN’s regional and local team of award-winning journalists and editors, who have extensive experience in investigating, reporting on, and advocating for such issues.

The first session was held by Kreshnik Gashi – Editor in Chief of KALLXO.com who spoke about safe sources to report on missing persons, treatment of family tragedies based on the Code of tEhics, protection of personal data and the principles of transitional justice in the treatment of missing persons. Gashi emphasized the importance of including every ethnic group when reporting of missing persons in Kosovo. In addition, he talked about the spread of disinformation in the missing persons in Kosovo, by giving examples of fake news and the impact they had on revictimization of families of the missing persons.

The third session was held by Lamija Grebo from BIRN BiH who presented the Practical Handbook on reporting about missing persons in BiH, including the media reporting on persons missing due to 1992 – 1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

She also spoke about BIRN’s BiH standards of reporting including empathy, impartiality, victims, and the communication with the families of missing persons.

Grebo also stated that the media must not abandon their socially responsible role, must not only be a carrier but also a change-maker, and must be current and bring important topics such as this one back into focus.

This training was attended by 22 participants of whom 15 were women. The participants engaged in this training by asking questions on how to refer to missing persons when reporting, how to treat the news when they find a corpse of a missing person, and how to treat families of missing persons while reporting on such matters.

The training consisted of four interactive sessions that were designed to address various questions related to oral history methodologies, with a particular focus on the technical aspects such as arranging the interviews and the interviewers, locations, logistics, filming, sounds, lighting, and editing.

In the initial session, attendees were given insights into the technical aspects of recording oral history interviews such as frame selection, lighting, and recording techniques. In the second session, the participants learned more about how to conduct interviews using the method of oral history and, in general, about the techniques for getting good human stories. During the third session, the focus was on improving the quality of written content by exploring techniques for editing and scriptwriting. In the last session, the attendees were able to see several presentations showcasing interviews within the context of exhibitions and memorials.

The trainers, Denis Dzidic, the Executive Director of  BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Lamija Grebo, a journalist from BIRN BiH presented thoroughly their experience at the Oral History Memorial project which tells the stories of survivors in Srebrenica. The project ‘The Lives Behind the Fields of Death’ is a valuable example that will serve not only the participants who attended but also BIRN Kosovo’s aim to create such initiatives that commemorate the Kosovo war.

This training was attended by 36 journalist, including 20 women. The participants were engaged and asked a lot of interesting questions, especially about how to interview people and the importance of treating survivors with empathy and understanding. During the screening of interviews with survivors from the project  ‘The Lives Behind the Fields of Death’ the participants had the opportunity to see survivors who not only shared their stories, they also gave belongings of their loved ones, victims of Srebrenica.

The workshop began with a discussion about the participants’ role that they have in the referral mechanism in the South Mitrovica municipality. The workshop examined the principles of strategic communication, covering a wide range of topics including the functioning of the media and other outlets that are critical to strategic communication.

Ten people took part in the workshop, of whom four were women.

The workshop’s trainer, Kreshnik Gashi, managing editor of Kallxo.com, presented the principles of strategic communication. The discussion that followed centered on the practical examples given by Gashi, particularly about the perceptions of post-war returnees.

Gashi noted that the impact of social media platforms on sensitive issues like this cannot be ignored, and so members of the referral mechanism must exercise caution when using social media.

The participants said the workshop was useful so the referral mechanism can be more informed about preventing violent extremism, rehabilitation and reintegration and other methods of combatting extremism that can be used in the South Mitrovica municipality.

The workshop was part of the ‘Resilient Community Programme’ founded by GCERF.