Author: birnEU

New Award for Culture Journalists Announced

Annual ward will add new element to the BICCED project, which opened last Thursday.

The advisory board for the BICCED project has decided to establish an annual award for journalists working in the field of culture. The decision was announced at the annual Advisory Board meeting held on January 28.

Details of the competition will soon be published in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia.

The annual award will add a new element to the Balkans’ Initiative for Cultural Cooperation, Exchange and Development, BICCED project, which kicked off for the third time last Thursday in Belgrade, gathering journalists from the region at a three-day event consisting of training, study visits and round table on cultural policy.

The project aims is to ensure a supply of objective, balanced and accurate reports on aspects of cultural policy and related themes, in order to provide policymakers in the country and abroad with a better basis from which to formulate policies that expedite the region’s European-oriented transition.

The project also aims to give cultural organisations and experts better insight into the state of cultural policies and practice in the region, as well as to exchange opinions, practices and experiences in the field of policy.

The BICCED project is implemented by the Balkan Investigative Regional Reporting Network, BIRN, SEEcult.org and is funded by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans.

 

The new English-language Editor-in-Chief Andrea Doder joins the Balkan Transitional Justice Team

Andrea Doder, a former BBC international affairs journalist, has joined the Balkan Transitional Justice (BTJ) team today as the English-language Editor-in-Chief.

Originally from Sarajevo, Andrea is a graduate from Guildhall, London and holds a master degree from the London School of Economics. She is also a fluent speaker of BCSM.

 

Andrea joined the BBC in 1994, where she produced and edited news programmes and reported for the World Service radio, World television and BBC News Online.

 

Balkan Transitional Justice is a new programme of BIRN HUB that is designed as a sub-site of Balkan Insight and made possible through cooperation with BIRN BiH.

The first ever regional programme of its kind, funded by the European Commission and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is dedicated to broadening understanding of transitional justice issues and improving the professional standards of journalism in the Balkan region.

News about transitional justice issues (war crime trials, missing persons, reparations, criminal justice efforts, regional cooperation and strategy) is published in English and also in Albanian, BCMS and Macedonian. The Balkan Transitional Justice’s website is currently under construction and contains three mirror language pages of the English home page.

 

The BTJ team started with a training period on February 1, under the editorial guidance of Balkan Insight’s Managing Editor Ana Petruseva and Andrew Gray, former chief editor of Reuters for the Balkans.

 

The training period has been successful beyond all expectations and the system of publishing news in four languages has been running smoothly. Although the website has not been officially launched the work of the BTJ team has already been noticed and some articles re-published in the local media across the region.

 

The official launch of the website will be on March 1, 2012.

 

Life in Kosovo discusses about emergency situations

Tonight, Life in Kosovo will broadcast a debate on the emergency situations in our country.

Do we know how to manage and cope with emergency situations in Kosovo – similar to those we have been faced over the last week?

What are the measures that the municipalities and the central government have taken?

What is the level of coordination among institutions in order to help the citizens? Why the Prishtina municipality has still no alarming system since three years now? I don’t get this part.

To discuss these issues, Jeta Xharra has invited:

Agim Gashi – Head of Directorate for Public Services in the Municipality of Prishtina
Feim Salihu – “Pastrimi” company
Visar Rama – INPO
Ismet Ibishi – Ministry of Internal Affairs
Shemsi Veseli – Deputy of PDK in Prishtina Assambly and KSF deputy minister

BIRN will also broadcast the interview with Dan Kamen from Energy Laboratory at the University of California, who talks about alternative energy sources in Kosovo.

Culture Watch Training in Belgrade

A training for journalists participating in the region-wide BICCED project kicked off in Belgrade on Thursday.

The event will equip journalists from across the region with the skills needed to write for the Culture Watch Online Magazine and forms part of the third round of the Balkan Initiative for Cultural Cooperation, Exchange and Development, BICCED.

The training sessions will be followed later by on-the-job training from BIRN’s experienced editorial team to help the journalists to produce articles focusing on cultural policy throughout the region, which will be published in the dedicated culture section of BIRN’s Balkan Insight web site – www.balkaninsight.com

Dusica L.I. Cook, BICCED programme manager, said that the main goals of the project are to train journalists to write in analytical manner, and to increase the visibility of cultural problems.

“The aim of the project is to provide a constant supply of objective, balanced and accurate reporting on aspects of cultural policy and other related themes, and provide policymakers in-country and within institutions abroad with a better position to create policies that expedite the region’s European-oriented transition,“ she explained.

<!** Image 3 align=”left” >The two day training programme will focus primarily on developing the journalists’ skill set, and will be led by Ana Petruseva, BIRN Macedonia Director and Gordana Igric, BIRN Regional Network Director who will guide the team through five distinct types of articles, writing style, writing tips, and the use of quotations and sources.

Another session will focus on news and analytical writing, helping the journalists to define the two and look at the structure of such pieces.

BIRN web director Milos Milosavljevic will host a session looking at Online Journalism and the use of social networks, and journalists will have learn the specific skills necessary for writing for the web, methods and techniques to promote their stories and the use of the web for research and collaboration.

The programme will conclude with the commissioning of articles which the journalists will work on in collaboration with their local editors in the weeks to come.

Selected candidates for the third round of the BICCED project are Bojana Karanovic (Banja Luka), Mirza Ajnadzic (Sarajevo), Olivera Nikodinovska and Julija ilijevska (Skopje), Arber Selmani and Donjeta Demolli (Pristina), Fatmira Nikolli and Elsa Demo (Tirana), Dimitrije Bukvic, Mladen Savkovic, Tijana Jovanovic Petrovic (Belgrade), and Branislava Lovre (Novi Sad).

The training is organized within the BIRN’s three-year Balkan Initiative in Cultural Cooperation, Exchange and Development, funded by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans.

 

The Boards of Public Enterprises

This Thursday, Life in Kosovo broadcasts a debate on the performance of the boards of public enterprises.

Why has the mandate for members of public enterprises been extended? How much have these boards been politicized and are appointments made based on political affiliations? What is happening with the water company \”Radoniqi\” in Gjakova? Who is in dispute with the new director and why?

To discuss these issues, Muhamet Hajrrullahu has invited:

  • Gani Koci – Deputy Minister of Economic Development;
  • Lutfi Zharku – former Minister of Trade and Industry;
  • Lorik Bajrami – from the NGO Çohu and
  • Shkamb Qavdarbasha – from the NGO INDEP.

During the programme, BIRN will broadcast a report by journalist Edona Musa who addresses the issue of why some of the former board members of “Radoniqi” did not accept the new director.

BIRN also broadcasts a report that shows how many children are going for medical treatment through the funds collected by the Gala Evening of December 1, 2011, organised by the Mother Teresa Society and Life in Kosovo.

New competition for Balkan Fellowships for Journalistic Excellence opened till March 5, 2012

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) together Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE Foundation, sixth time in a row, opened a call for applications within the program “Balkan Fellowship for journalistic excellence. The topic of the new call is communities and journalists from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia are invited to apply till March 5, 2012.

Applicants are encouraged to consider the annual theme, communities, in a broad sense. Candidates should examine different groupings-political, economic, national, gender, generational – and the relationship between them, external influences and the development of entirely new groups or factions. Candidates should write about the topic not just in the context of their home country, but also in at least one other regional state and within the European Union and should choose phenomena that are relevant, current and original.

 

Fellows are expected to deliver investigative stories of no more than 2,000 words that will inform regional readers about issues that have not been covered by the media before.

 

Remzi Lani, director of the Albanian Media Institute and a member of the program’s selection committee, described the fellowship as “a success story” and “opportunity not to be missed”. “The programme offers a unique opportunity for detailed, in-depth reporting in your country and beyond. At the same time, if offers fellows the opportunity to meet colleagues and industry professionals from across Europe”, says Remzi Lani.

 

Ten applicants selected by an independent committee to take part in the fellowship will receive a €2,000 bursary, up to another €2,000 for travel and research expenses and will attend career development seminars in Vienna and Skopje. In addition, the top three articles, again judged by an independent committee, will attract awards of €4,000, €3,000 and €1,000.

 

In the attachment you may read the recommendation from the 2011 winner, Juliana Koleva from Bulgaria.

 

Detailed information on this year’s theme, application form and guidelines can be found at:

http://fellowship.birn.eu.com/en/fellowship-programme/topic-2012-communities-apply-now.

 

Contact for further information:

 

Dragana Žarković Obradović

Fellowship programme manager, BIRN

 

Email: [email protected]

 

Life in Kosovo discusses the protests on 14 January

Tonight, Life in Kosovo will discuss last weekend’s protests and those that will come later in a brand new studio.

Questions to be covered include: What did the four teams from the Ombudsperson institution see during Vetëvendosje’s (Self Determination) protest at the weekend? Who does the Ombudsperson say started the violence first?

Among the protesters, who began to throw stones at the police? Who will Vetëvendosje fine regarding the violence caused during the protest? Will the government or the police change their approach to managing Vetëvendosje’s next protest, planned for the upcoming weekend? What measures of reciprocity is the government considering?

Is there any institutional approach that Vetëvendosje can or would use to push through the implementation of the motion they desire?

 

Participants in the debate will be:

Mimoza Kusari – Minister of Trade and Industry;
Blerand Stavileci – Minister of Agriculture;
Sami Kurteshi – Ombudsperson;
Shpend Ahmet – from Vetëvendosje; and
Galuk Konjufca – from Vetëvendosje.

Also, journalist Alban Selimi interviewed Nijazi Gashi, director of UCCK (University Clinical Center of Kosovo) on how people convicted for serious crimes were selected for heads of the clinic.

Balkan Transitional Justice

BIRN Hub opened a five-day long training course on journalistic reporting about transitional justice issues in the scope of the newly launched programme Balkan Transitional Justice.

The programme is financed by the European Commission and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

The aim of the training course is to introduce journalists and translators to the topic of transitional justice as a practical field from a journalistic perspective.

 

Gordana Igrić, the regional BIRN director welcomed the newly established Balkan Transitional Justice Journalistic Team by saying that one of the aims of the programme is to contribute to the process of coming to terms with the past.

 

Nerma Jelačić, the Head of the ICTY Outreach Programme, presented the concept of transitional justice based on four pillars: the right to know, the right to justice, the right to reparation, and non-repetition of the past human rights violations.

 

Throughout the week, Jelačić will provide insights into the challenges that journalists face when they cover transitional justice issues.

 

The training also includes presentations by representatives of key BiH judiciaries and experts on transitional justice issues such Jasmina Pjanic, the Head of the Criminal Defence Section of BIH, Liljana Zurovac from the BiH Press Council, and Saša Madacki from the Human Rights Center.

 

The participants will have the opportunity to visit the Court of BiH, follow a war crime trial, and practice how to report about the case they attended.

 

Balkan Transitional Justice is a regional programme that aims to increase a general public understanding of transitional justice in post-Yugoslav countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia) and improve the state of media.

 

The online production in four regional languages (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin, Albanian and Macedonian) and English starts in February 2012, whereby radio and TV output will follow later.

 

Life in Kosovo discusses about drugs registered with fake documents

Tonight Life in Kosovo broadcasts an investigative report by Alban Selimi showing how the medical drugs, bought from Serbia, have been registered with fake documents even though the authorities knew about it.

In addition to the falsified documents problem, the report points to the argument of the danger of using these drugs because, in the absence of the issuing documents, the costumers would not have any address to complain to.

 

Muhamet Hajrullahu has investigated the situation of the waste landfill. Is there any positional risk for citizens’ health as a result of bad management of these landfills?

 

BIRN will broadcast a reportage which shows what kind of property problems some residents of Tërstenik, a village in Drenas, have.

 

The show will also broadcast a TV report by Edona Musa on why Junik municipality does not comply with the court decisions regarding fired workers?

 

It closes with a report drawing on the repatriation process of Kosovo citizens returning from European countries as an effect of Kosovo Government Agreements with EU countries towards visa-liberalization goals.

Life in Kosovo discusses energy

This Thursday, Life in Kosovo goes to South Africa to investigate whether energy supply problems have been solved since a new power plant was built with World Bank loans – in a similar way to the planned New Kosova power plant.

Life in Kosovo travels up to this power plant in northern South Africa to see how this power plant has contributed in improving the citizens’ lives.~

 

Why has there been an increase in electricity prices since construction began on the new power plant in South Africa? 

What does a World Bank’s own Inspection Panel report say about the standards breached by the World Bank in giving credit for the construction of the Eskom power plant in northern South Africa – in a similar form of credit planned for Kosovo?

 

How have citizens from whom the power plant is taking water needed for agriculture responded? What has been lobbied for by the only Kosovar representative in the Conference of the United Nations for climate change in Durban? 

What are the lessons that Kosovo could take from the example of South Africa?

 

Exclusively in Life in Kosovo, these issues will be elaborated by the South African minister of environment and citizens from both Kosovo and South Africa.