Author: birnEU

Nabolli won for his article produced as part of the fellowship ‘An Albanian War on Drugs,’ published by Balkan Insight.

“Freedom of expression and freedom of the media implies a commitment to democracy, good governance and political accountability. These are some of prerequisites for a country to become part of the EU and one of the reasons why each of you play such an important role in creating EU standards,” said Jan Rudolph, Head of Political, Economic and Information Section announcing the EU Investigative Journalism Awards.

The Award ceremony was held on June 7th, 2017, at the European Union Info Center, Tirana. A total of 28 investigative stories were nominated for this year’s EU Award in Albania, 18 of whom from journalists under 35. Jury consisted of five prominent media professionals and civil society representatives: Rrapo Zguri, professor of journalism and jury chair, Aleksander Cipa, head of Union of Albanian Journalists, Valbona Sulce, media expert and member of Steering Council of public broadcaster, Lutfi Dervishi, media expert, and Adi Krasta, TV personality.

Valbona Sulce, member of the jury, stated that the jury faced a difficult task, given that the quality of nominations was good, covering a wide range of topics that are relevant to the society. In addition, the predominance of young journalists among the nominations received is also a good sign for the future of investigative journalism in the country, she said.

In cooperation with CIJA US and Talk 2.0, BIRN has organised workshops in Skopje, Tirana, Pristina, Belgrade and Sarajevo with the participation of more than 80 activists, journalists, bloggers, educators, religious communities representatives and other online and offline influencers in order to help them develop online communication strategies to respond to dangerous content.

The training sessions were led by Sanjana Hattotuwa, special advisor at the ICT 4 Peace Foundation, and Sarah Oh, a US-based communication expert, while participants also had the opportunity to hear from Facebook experts and Balkan-based organisations such as Sbunker, Halakate, Helsinki Committee, Vidiovo, Hocu.ba, Istinomer and others.

“In recent months we have seen increased propaganda, hate speech and calls for violence online, which in some cases like in Kosovo or Macedonia resulted in physical attacks on prominent activists and political figures. In parallel, there is a global trend to curb free media, either through fake news or economic and political pressure. In a circumstances like this, we believe our initiative will help local stakeholders to respond to these negative trends in a timely and proper way,” BIRN’s project manager Marija Ristic said.

Workshops were held under the umbrella of the Resonant Voices Initiative – a project implemented by the CIJA US, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and Talks 2.0.

The initiative aims to challenge extremist narratives in public discourse throughout the Western Balkans – in particular those disseminated online – and to equip critical voices in the target countries with the skills, know-how and resources to counter radicalisation, the recruitment of foreign terrorist fighters and violent extremists and other dangerous trends.

It will also empower a diverse group of civil society actors – activists, journalists, bloggers, educators and other online (and offline) influencers – to become resonant voices, able to counter violent extremism, to push back against extremist propaganda and to increase and amplify alternative, positive messages.

To learn more about the project, follow the Resonant Voices Initiative on Facebook and on Twitter.