Author: Eleni Stamatoukou

BIRN convened Southeast Europe SEE Digital Rights Network members from North Macedonia in Skopje for their first national meeting on April 19, bringing together representatives from various organisations committed to advancing digital rights.

At the meeting, delegates gave presentations about their organisations’ work in the digital rights sphere and explored potential collaborative efforts to boost the efficiency of their initiatives.

The organisations represented at the meeting were IMPETUS, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Metamorphosis Foundation, the Centre for Media Development, and the Internet Governance Forum North Macedonia, IGF MKD.

Participants discussed their organisations’ current projects, plans and ideas for digital rights-related work.

IMPETUS is concentrating on digital rights and security for NGOs, generating a risk assessment and creating a policy brief addressing the cyber challenges that NGOs face and building capacity for these organisations.

A representative of IGF MKD said their organisation is currently facilitating dialogue on internet governance issues among in stakeholders in North Macedonia and organising an annual forum to connect various parties involved in digitalisation discussions.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights is prioritising hate speech, digital rights and cyberbullying research, with a keen interest in engaging with young people and advocating for legal amendments in the digital domain. The Helsinki Committee also expressed interest in joining the SEE Digital Rights Network and planning for a first regional meeting.

A delegate from the Metamorphosis Foundation said their organisation is working on media for democracy, social accountability, education for innovation and human rights online, focusing on e-government, privacy by design and fact-checking.

The Media Development Centre’s representative said the organisation is focusing on freedom of information and media system reform in the country, and analysing the influence of new technology in the media sector and journalism.

During a brainstorming session, attendees agreed that it is necessary to regularly share information among network members and proposed scheduling routine online meetings to keep up to date with each other’s activities, among other communication-related proposals. They also debated the potential evaluation of the network’s impact on organisations and information-sharing for joint applications and cross-cutting national and local targets.

The meeting concluded that as the SEE Digital Rights Network continues to broaden its scope and cultivate cooperation among its members, the influence of its work on digital rights in the region is expected to increase, fostering a more secure and inclusive digital environment for all.

Freedom of Information, FOI, Laws in the Western Balkans are over a decade old. Even though almost all countries monitored by BIRN have laws that are considered well-written, their value is often only on paper, speakers from the region told BIRN’s panel discussion, “Freedom of Information in the Balkans: Calls Not Answered”.

Planned legal changes to FOI laws seem designed to make it impossible for journalists to hold the authorities to account. When implementing FOI legislation, all Western Balkan countries have fallen significantly behind, BIRN’s annual freedom of information report officially launched on Wednesday said.

When properly implementing the laws and granting access to public records, especially to journalists, public institutions prefer to remain silent or answer partially – and not always grant full access to the requested information.

Last year, BIRN journalists submitted 376 FOI requests. Only 134 were fully answered; more than half of the requests were not answered at all (what is known as “administrative silence”), reflecting public institutions’ lack of transparency and proactivity. Lack of political will to fully implement FOI laws is a major drive behind current trends. 

Saša Dragojlo, a BIRN journalist from Serbia, told the panel discussion that it is difficult to get information from Serbian institutions. “It’s like a big groundhog day every year when we discuss the state of Freedom of Information. Even when institutions answer our FOI requests, we don’t always get real information,” Dragojlo said.

The situation is better in Kosovo, where many documents are public. “We see some positive trends, and the political also changed a bit for the better,” Gentiana Ahmeti, a BIRN Kosovo journalist, told the panel.

Regarding political will, the change of government in Montenegro did not bring about any breakthrough, according to Lazar Grdinić, a researcher with MANS NGO in Montenegro.

“The new government, the new power elite, took over the old practices. The state of freedom of information in Montenegro is pretty much the same as it was a few years ago. We need to do more as a society,” Grdinić described the situation.

In North Macedonia, the main problem is the authorities’ silence, information commissioner Plamenka Bojčeva told the panel.

“When someone sends a legal request, institutions don’t answer by the legal deadline. Our goal is to change this with regular training for the officers receiving the requests. Political will plays a very important role. What we as an agency try to achieve, although we lack resources, is to overcome this by building institutional standards,” Bojčeva said.

When discussing Open Government Partnership OGP problems and perspectives, Sandra Pernar, a senior regional coordinator for Europe with OGP, mentioned the rise of populist movements and governments worldwide.

“Populist parties and politicians use citizen distrust and anger to rise to power. The three most important challenges Balkan countries face are combating corruption, the lack of open civic space and trust in institutions,” she said in a video message.

German Flikov, from the Centre for Civil Communication Skopje, told the panel that one of the biggest shortcomings of OGP is that it depends on the personal commitments of a limited number of people. “The process also requires political will, whether a government minister knows the process”, he said, referring to the previous panel discussion.

The government of Montenegro is working on a new national action plan, the head of the Directorate for Innovation, Openness of Public, Administration and Cooperation with NGOs, from the Ministry of Public Administration, told the panel.

Lidija Ljumović also added that when working on the plan and two e-platforms, they had “fundamental, contextual and rather rich coordination with the civil sector”.

Serbia is adopting its fifth national OGP action plan, said Miloš Pavković, a researcher with European Policy Centre. One of the main challenges is that elections and constitutional changes interrupt implementation of the action plan, Pavković told the conference.

According to BIRN’s annual Freedom of Information report, public institutions preferred to keep public records secret and not help the public better understand important events or governmental actions. It seems like a trend repeated each year based on data collected from monitored institutions from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

BIRN’s annual FOI report is part of the “Paper Trail to Better Governance” project, funded by the Austrian Development Agency.

Xhorxhina, 26, comes from Albania but is based in Kosovo. She studied applied arts and sciences, but journalism won her heart as a child when she co-created a school magazine.

Xhorxhina has been working for BIRN for the past three years. She likes to report on marginalised groups, Kosovo-Serbia relations and transitional justice issues.

This spring she reported from The Hague, where she attended the opening of the war crimes trial of Kosovo’s ex-President Hashim Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders.

1.Why did you decide to become a journalist?

Since I was in elementary school I have wanted to hold people with more authority accountable for not keeping promises or not trying to make citizens’ daily life easier. I grew up in the suburbs of Tirana, around 15 minutes away from the city centre. However, as a child and then a teenager, finishing high school close to the city centre, I constantly witnessed two different realities.  Conversations were a mixture of everyday politics and the struggle of not having drinking water or having electricity cuts. At the same time I grew up with histories of struggles from communist Albania and often was shown two sides of the same history – nostalgia and traumas from poverty and fears of the dictatorship. Slowly, I realised that journalists could be powerful voices of the community. When I was in eighth grade, together with a couple of friends, we established a school magazine in which we tried to include as many pupils as possible and publish their creations and ideas. However, the magazine failed due to a lack of funds but I did not stop wanting to become a journalist. I believe that journalists have the power to hold policymakers accountable by showcasing the everyday difficulties citizens have, while pointing out what institutions are not doing. I became a journalist because I always believed that journalists could be the voice of the citizens who were ‘fighting’ to make ends meet while simultaneously trying to move on from the past.

2.What do you like most in your job at Balkan Insight, and what is the most challenging thing?

Being a journalist often does not feel like a job to me because it is something I have wanted to do for as long as I remember. At Balkan Insight, I have found very good colleagues who have turned into important friends who have supported and helped me a lot. I learn new things from my colleagues constantly and due to that I understand the differences and similarities between our countries even better. One of my favourite things is talking to people about the difficulties they have in their everyday life in different parts of Kosovo and to see how despite everything, they somehow thrive. When talking to people I always have in the back of my mind the history of Kosovo as a former province of Serbia within the former Yugoslavia, the war at the end of the 1990s, and the creation of a state from scratch. There are many problems in Kosovo, socially, politically, and economically, however it is nice when I hear successful stories from young people or how older ones have not lost hope or the will to create a better life.

One of the challenges remains the digital decentralisation of information and sometimes the difficulty of getting answers to requests for information from government institutions and agencies.

3.What kind of stories do you prefer to report?

I like reporting about less favoured groups of society and the violation of their human rights, but also about reconciliation and transitional justice, international affairs that directly affect the country domestically, such as Kosovo-Serbia dialogue or regional Balkan agreements for example, and economic development.

For example, collaborating closely with the colleagues in Belgrade, I have worked on articles that explain the violations of human rights of ethnic Albanians from the south of Serbia or the difficulties faced by ethnic Serbs from North Kosovo due to unilateral governmental decisions of non-implemented agreements between Kosovo and Serbia.

4.Balkan Insight reported on the war crimes trial of Kosovo’s ex-president Hashim Thaci and the three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders in The Hague. We ran a live blog, and you were there and attended the trial. Can you tell us more about this journalistic assignment? 

 I have been reporting on developments at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers for Balkan Transitional Justice since the first arrests in 2020. The opening of the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and his three co-defendants Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi was a historic event because it is one of the most important trials to come out of the Yugoslav wars.

I had the opportunity to witness and report live on what was happening inside the court and on the support the defendants have received since their detention in 2020 in Kosovo, and also the support they received during the opening statements of the prosecution from the Albanian diaspora who came from all over to The Hague. It is important to note that reporting live from the opening of the trial in the Hague was a teamwork, I had the assistance of our colleagues, the head of the legal office of the Kosovo office, Labinot Leposhtica, and the producer Valdet Salihu in The Hague as well as the help of our colleagues from Balkan Insight in publishing the updates in a timely manner in the live blog in order for me to able to follow the trial live and simultaneously report live.

5.What was the most challenging part for you while reporting on such an important trial? What are Balkan Insight’s next steps regarding the covering of the trial?

The most challenging part was the high level of security within the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, as no electronic devices were allowed in the court areas where the trial could be followed live. Therefore we had to take notes by hand and I had to go through security checks multiple times a day. This was very different to how Kosovo courts located within the country function.

Balkan Insight will continue to follow and report on all the current and future cases at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers as it has done so far by following the hearings and also asking for information from the court and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. Currently, the main obstacle to reporting the developments at the KSC is that witnesses are being mainly heard in private sessions in the Thaci et al case but also in the war crimes trial of Pjeter Shala.

6. Would you like to give any advice to aspiring journalists who want to cover transitional justice topics?

I think aspiring journalists should not be discouraged if someone doubts their ability to report on transitional justice due to their age, personal life experience or gender. It is very important to read different perspectives on the war and then to read books that offer historical facts about the events, watch documentaries and read reports on events on the ground. Talking to people who have lived in the former Yugoslavia and may or may not be survivors of various massacres is also very important in order to be able to properly report on experiences. Also, reading verdicts from the ICTY is very helpful in understanding how international tribunals work.

With technology evolving rapidly, it’s essential for journalists to stay up-to-date on the latest methods and strategies to uncover and appropriately report on digital rights violations. To tackle these challenges, BIRN is organizing a three-day training for Montenegrin journalists in Podgorica, Montenegro that will focus on the theoretical and practical framework necessary to understand digital rights and how to report on breaches, blocking and filtering content, manipulations, and propaganda in the digital environment.

Numerous reports from international human rights organizations, media organizations, CSOs, and international institutions indicate a concerning situation regarding digital rights in the Balkans, highlighting the need for continued efforts to improve the protection and promotion of these rights, but also to enhance the journalists’ ability to adequately report on these issues. Despite many of the countries from the region having regulatory frameworks that formally address these issues, challenges persist, such as online surveillance, censorship, and data privacy issues.

Frequent cyberattacks and online harassment also threaten the safety and security of many, including journalists, who are often targets of online attacks. Still, many journalists from the region may not be fully aware of the extent of digital rights violations or the underlying legal and technological aspects that lead to these kinds of violations.

BIRN’s training will provide ten selected journalists from Montenegro with a comprehensive understanding of the issues at stake, helping them to identify and report on digital rights violations more effectively. Journalists play a crucial role in raising public awareness and driving change and by equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge, this training will enable them to produce impactful stories that can contribute to a more informed public debate and eventually lead to policy changes that protect and promote digital rights in the Balkans.

Who can apply?

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) invites journalists from Montenegro to apply for a three-day training on reporting digital rights violations.

How to apply?

To apply for this opportunity, interested journalists should demonstrate an interest in digital rights, possess previous journalism experience, and show active engagement in the field of digital rights. A selection committee will evaluate the applications and select ten journalists to participate in the training.

To apply, submit the following application form along with your CV and a motivational letter to [email protected] no later than May 10, 2023, at 5 pm CET with the subject line: BIRN Digital Rights Reporting Training for Journalists MNE.

Where?

The training will take place in Podgorica, Montenegro, from May 16 to May 18, 2023. The organizers will fully cover travel and accommodation costs for selected participants. The working language of the training is English.

What to expect?

The training will provide selected journalists with essential skills and knowledge to effectively investigate and report on digital rights violations in an ever-changing technological landscape. The training will cover various aspects of digital rights reporting, including identifying and collecting digital rights violations, categorizing these violations, and reporting on individual cases and broader trends.

The program will also focus on multimedia, contemporary tools, and modern journalistic approaches, such as open-source investigations, data journalism, fact-checking, and cross-border collaborations. The training in Podgorica will offer valuable educational insights and provide the opportunity to connect with fellow journalists and experts working in the digital rights field.

Unique opportunity after the training

Upon completion of the training, journalists will have the opportunity to pitch their story ideas to BIRN. Selected journalists will receive on-the-job mentoring and financial support to research and apply their newly acquired skills to implement their ideas on cases involving breaches, content blocking, filtering, manipulations, and propaganda in the digital environment.

Long story short

DEADLINE: Submit the application form along with your CV and a motivational letter to [email protected] no later than May 1, 2023, at 5 pm CET with the subject line: BIRN Digital Rights Reporting Training for Journalists MNE.

DATES OF TRAINING: May 16, May 17, and May 18, 2023

LOCATION: Podgorica, Montenegro

BIRN’s investigation, “Code of Silence: Fear, Stigma Surrounding Abuse of Greek Women Journalists”, about abuse and harassment against women journalists in Greek media was presented in the first day of the Media Freedom Rapid Response, MFRR, Summit 2023.

“Press Freedom on the Line” from March 29-31, 2023, was the title of this year’s MFRR Summit. The online conference hosted in-depth discussions on journalist safety, media capture, the rule of law, and SLAPPs.

Panel discussions, live interviews and keynote speeches with journalists, media freedom experts, policy-makers and other stakeholders all working to defend press freedom participated in the three-day conference.

Neus Vidal, Monitoring Officer at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, interviewed journalist Eleni Stamatoukou on the findings of BIRN’s investigation into the abuse of women journalists, on how “a code of silence” prevents cases from coming to light and the importance of giving a voice to survivors.

“These [abusive] behaviours were passed from previous generations. People needed to be tough or cruel to survive in this [media] environment. If there is no policy in place, or no training, this behaviour will affect not only women but men and minority groups,” Stamatoukou told Vidal.

BIRN’s research “Code of Silence”, published in December 2022, disclosed that female journalists are often afraid to report incidents of abuse and harassment and ignore the procedures. At the same time, most media in Greece do not have the means to handle such cases.

BIRN covered incidents over almost 30 years, from 1993 to 2021, documented through interviews with current and former media industry workers. More than 90 per cent of respondents said that they had been victims of harassment. The youngest victim was 17 years old, the oldest 62.

BIRN in January 2022 published the report “Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience”, on the position of women in the press room regarding the trends, opportunities, and obstacles women journalists confront in the Balkan region. BIRN also has focus pages and reports on gender justice and press freedom.