Author: birnEU

Denis Dzidic

Denis Dzidic is the Director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH), a Sarajevo-based media NGO specializing in reporting on transitional justice, corruption, human rights, and security.

With over 18 years of journalistic experience, he has dedicated his career to amplifying the voices of war-crime victims and marginalized groups in Bosnian society.

Under his leadership, BIRN BiH has developed innovative tools and databases, such as “Mapping Hate,” “Months of Siege,” and the “Database of Judicially Established Facts”, which document war crimes, counter denial and revisionism and serve as educational and research resources, both locally and internationally.

Džidić spearheaded the creation of the memorial room “Lives Behind the Fields of Death” with the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, recording 100 testimonies of genocide survivors. His project “Crime Scenes” revisits former mass killing sites through photography and survivor testimony, deepening public understanding of Bosnia’s wartime legacy.

He has led advocacy efforts to improve transparency in Bosnia’s judiciary, collecting thousands of citizens’ signatures demanding public access to court rulings, which resulted in the Prosecutor’s Office beginning to publish corruption indictments online.

He is also author of a documentary movie Justice and Truth, which examines Ukraine’s pursuit of justice over the war crimes committed by Russian forces following Russia’s 2022 invasion, drawing on lessons from Bosnia. He is the author and co-author of numerous guidelines and recommendations related to the transitional justice and rule-of-law topics.

Dzidic regularly represents BIRN BiH at high-level international meetings with the UN, the EU and OSCE, promoting democratic reforms and human rights. His work has earned accolades, including the Nino Catic Award and Goran Bubalo Peace Award, and he led the organisation when receiving the Special European Press Prize for advancing justice for war-crime victims.

Balkan Insight

Balkan Insight is BIRN’s flagship English-language website and it provides daily news, as well as analytical insight and investigations, on key issues in ten countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, with occasional coverage of Turkey and Greece. From 2019, Balkan Insight is extending its coverage on Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

The website has built a reputation as one of the most comprehensive, professional and independent sources of news in English in Southern and Eastern Europe, and has become the news source of choice for policy-makers, corporate management and academic researchers around the world.

It provides a free-to-access daily news service alongside Premium Content, a paid service that offers in-depth analysis, commentary, investigative reports, features, interviews and profiles on the latest political and business headlines.

Balkan Insight draws on BIRN’s pool of professional specialist journalists and editors from across Europe, ensuring high-quality content refined by a team of native English-language editors.

Correspondents address issues including transitional justice, media freedom, foreign influence, radicalisation, corruption and the rule of law, as well as political crises in the region.

In addition to publishing work by our team of correspondents, we annually publish articles from more than 200 local journalists – mostly relying on our wide network of alumni that have participated in the award-winning programs – the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, the Balkan Transitional Justice Initiative and the BIRN Summer School of Investigative Journalism.

Our opinion writers include respected authors and commentators on the region, including international political and government figures.

We also collaborate with a number of media outlets in Europe. Our stories get republished regularly internationally by The Economist, The Independent, Der Standard, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, The Guardian, New Statesman, The Nation, Le Monde and by the BBC, PBS and Al Jazeera.

Locally, our articles often appear in Danas, Vreme, Vjesti, N1, Novosti.hr, Klix.ba, Juzne Vesti, Koha, Mapo.al and many others.

Balkan Insight has been quoted in reports issued by the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Freedom House. It is referenced by many academic institutions and their scholars, including those from Columbia University, Oxford University, the London School of Economics, University College London, Yale University and the University of Graz, among others.

Over the years, Balkan Insight investigative teams have been nominated or awarded on numerous occasions, including for the Global Shining Light Award, the European Press Prize, SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism, the Global Data Journalism Award, Press Freedom Award – A Signal for Europe, as well as numerous national awards for best investigations by independent journalism centres.

Kalina Simic

Kalina Simic joined BIRN Serbia in August 2012 as a project manager.

In addition to her work on monitoring projects, Kalina also manages projects that focus on promoting communication between the local administration in south Serbia and citizens there.

Kalina has extensive experience in advertising, as well as governmental and NGO work. In the area of advertising and marketing, she worked for the Hammer Creative Agency of Novi Sad, Leo Burnett as well as Cyber Entertainment in Belgrade.

In her work for local governments, she managed various activities and projects for the Executive Council of Vojvodina and the Serbian Ministry for Human and Minority Rights. In addition, she worked for the Public Administration and Local Government Center (PALGO Center), Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) and Novi Sad School of Journalism.

Kalina studied Psychology at Novi Sad University. In addition to her formal education, Kalina has attended more than 15 different trainings and courses.

Marija Petrovic

Marija is a sales professional with a background in the media industry in Serbia and East Asia.

A member of the Belgrade Insight team at the time of the newspaper’s launch in 2008, Marija rejoined the team a year ago to head up the sales and marketing division.

Marija is well-acquainted with the international community in Belgrade through her previous experience as a field representative with the Club de Madrid.

Aleksandar Djordjevic

Aleksandar Djordjevic has worked as a journalist since 2009, mainly covering politics and public finance.

Aleksandar was a local correspondent for the regional website Sumadijapress before joining BIRN in February 2012.

Ever since he has mainly worked in the field of data journalism and investigative journalism, specialising in public finance reporting.

In 2016 he won the first prize within EU Investigative Journalism Awards for Serbia scheme and an award for the best investigative story in print media by the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists and US embassy in Belgrade.

Aleksandar was awarded the best media report on monitoring of public spending in Serbia organized by the United Nations Development Programme. He was also a finalist at the 2012 National Investigative Journalism Award by the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia.

 

Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic

Under Dragana’s leadership, BIRN Serbia has been recognised for its professionalism and its ability to influence the public agenda in the fields of media development and good governance.

With extensive media experience and a strong background in project management, Dragana joined BIRN in February 2006 as a project manager and was promoted to country manager in 2007.

Dragana previously worked on several projects for prominent international organisations, such as the Stability Pact for SEE, Transparency International and the European Agency for Reconstruction, as well as for electronic media.

Dragana studied Comparative Literature at Belgrade University, and further honed her professional skills through numerous trainings and conferences.

Marian Chiriac

Marian Chiriac has worked as a journalist since 1990, mainly covering politics and human rights issues.

He has reported extensively on most major events in Romania and the Balkans. He became a regular contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in 1999, and in 2005 established BIRN Romania.

Sinisa-Jakov Marusic

Sinisa-Jakov Marusic is a Skopje-based journalist and regular contributor to BIRN’s regional publication, Balkan Insight, and the programme Balkan Transitional Justice.

Since 2007, Sinisa has covered Macedonia’s political, social and economic developments, especially those linked to Macedonian post conflict society and transitional justice.

His articles and analysis also appear in other local and international print and electronic media.

In 2007, Sinisa graduated from the Journalism School at the Macedonian Institute for Media, MIM, in Skopje.

He speaks Macedonian, English and German.

Jeton Ispahiu

With international experience in media production, Jeton Ispahiu joined BIRN in 2008. He is responsible for providing video editing and final touches for the Life in Kosovo and Justice in Kosovo television programmes.

Jeton previously worked for various Canadian media companies, including CTV-Winnipeg, where he served as a journalist and video editor between 2004 and 2008.

Jeton graduated with a degree in production from Assinniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada in 2003.

Albulena Sadiku

Albulena Sadiku has a strong professional background in civil society and has spent 15 years working in media management, anti-corruption projects, capacity building, local government and production of field TV debates and reports.

In 2011, Albulena joined BIRN as a Project Manager for fundraising, program management, donor relations and activity management for the organization.

Albulena’s program portfolio includes anti-corruption initiatives to expose malpractice, transparent and unbiased journalism, and monitoring and reporting on public sector performance, especially the spending of public funds.

An experienced field producer of televised parliamentary and local elections programs, Albulena has produced in excess of 300 debates attended by more than 1,000 panelists and watched by over 3 million viewers.

She has actively engaged as a women’s rights campaigner and activist on issues related to women’s property and inheritance rights and the effective participation of women in elections and public institutions. In addition, she is a successful campaigner for Freedom of Information and Access to Public Documents.

In 2005, Albulena began working as a Advocacy Program Manager for the Initiative for Progress Organization (INPO) and in 2009, became the Executive Director, where she served until the end of 2010. Here, Albulena focused on local governance issues, including performance monitoring and evalutation of legislative and executive institutions across six municipalities in Kosovo.

She studied Political Science and English Literature at university and has partaken in relevant courses, including the not-for-profit management course at the Vienna University of Economics and Business’s NGO Academy