Eleni Stamatoukou, Author at BIRN

Meet the People Behind BIRN: Ivana Jeremic

Each month, BIRN introduces you to members of its team. For December, meet, Ivana Jeremic, BIRN Editor.

“I love the feeling of working for a cross-border network, being able to collaborate with journalists, not only in the Balkans but across Europe,” says Jeremic, 32, an investigative journalist, fact-checker and one of BIRN’s Editors. Her career in BIRN started in 2019. One year before, she was a fellow of the BIRN Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence.

“I love the international perspective BIRN stories have and how they impact the way I think of the topics now. I am more involved with the long-form stories that are more challenging but, in my opinion, more fun as well,” states Jeremic, who took part in the new cross-border project “China in the Balkans”’ that BIRN launched last December.

In it, BIRN identified 135 Chinese-linked projects in the Balkans worth more than 32 billion euros. They are described as investments but few have come without controversy. BIRN collaborated with journalists from all over Balkans to create an interactive map of them, where readers can browse the various types of cooperation Beijing has reached with countries in the region.

“The goal of this map, or database, is to dispel some of the myths that accompany Chinese investments. Although the projects are presented as investments, they are mostly projects financed through additional government borrowing,” Jeremic explains.

“The projects are insufficiently transparent, and their expediency is questionable. BIRN will continue to monitor projects and regularly update the database, and other journalists and the public will have the opportunity to follow all projects related to the Chinese presence in one place. The idea is to use the map just as a starting point for other investigative stories,” she adds.

BIRN: The Pandora Papers would not have been the same without cross-border journalism. Do you think that it’s the same with “China in the Balkan” Did the impact of “China in the Balkans” exceed what an individual journalist could achieve with his/her own work?

Jeremic: Absolutely. China uses the same strategy in the whole region, and the lack of the rule of law allows these companies to work in an untransparent way, harming the environment and violating basic human rights. In terms of wider coverage, the cross-border angle definitely helps attract the attention of EU decision-makers and the public. What’s happening in Bosnia or in Montenegro, for example, is not only important for the local population, because these projects have consequences that go beyond the borders of these states. Besides, working on stories with a team of people from different countries and with different skills makes the story better.

BIRN: Journalists are often described as lone wolves, but in recent years they started to collaborate. “China in the Balkans” was a cross-border investigation project. How difficult or easy was it to work in a cross-border team?

Jeremic: It can be challenging in terms of organisation and interference with daily tasks, but at the same time, it’s rewarding. BIRN is a network and we are used to working in big teams with people we sometimes haven’t even met in person. “China in the Balkans” mapped more than 130 projects. It wouldn’t be possible to do that without journalists on the ground in each of the countries. It helped that we had project coordinators to keep track of everything and make sure everyone was on the same page.

BIRN: What is BIRN’s next cross-border project?

Jeremic: “I’m not sure what I am allowed to mention, but most of our projects are cross-border.”

EU Investigative Journalism Awards Presented in Bosnia

Winning stories focused on respirators’ scandal, a vote-selling scam in Brcko and fake charities soliciting money for non-existent humanitarian work.

Semira Degirmendžić, Nino Bilajac, Mubarek Asani, and Džana Brkanić are the winners of the European Union’s Awards for Investigative Journalism in 2021 for stories published in 2020.

The awards were presented on Wednesday, December 15, at BIRN’s Reporters’ House in Sarajevo.

Degirmendžić won first prize for the best investigative story in 2020, “Agricultural farm got 10.5 million marks for the purchase of respirators”, which resonated strongly with the public last year.

In her comprehensive research, Degirmendzic revealed that the supplier of the respirators did not obtain the necessary permits from the Medicines Agency to import the respirators from China.

Together with Fikret Hodzic, owner of the supplier company Srebrna malina, Prime Minister Fadil Novalic and the head of the crisis staff, Fahrudin Solak were all involved in the affair.

Mubarek Asani and Nino Bilajac, journalists from the Centre for Investigative Journalism, won second prize for their story about a network of vote traffickers in the northern Brcko District.

“Vote selling network exposed by CIN reporters“ was conducted by the journalists in cooperation with the police and the Prosecutor’s Office, who infiltrated the organisers of the scam as intermediaries between the vote-seller and the local politician to whom these votes were supposed to bring victory.

Both the local politician and the seller were later arrested. This research also resulted in the arrest of eight others – three members of the local assembly members and five intermediaries.

Third prize went to Dzana Brkanic, a BIRN BiH journalist, for her story about fake humanitarian organisations deceiving citizens and collecting donations to build wells in African countries.

The story, “Murky Bosnian Charity Appeals for African Wells Raise Concerns”, revealed the misuse of humanitarian funds and non-transparency of collecting and spending of more than 4 million Bosnian marks.

Inadequate controls over such humanitarian actions and associations is one of Moneyval’s recommendations to Bosnia, which is why this research was extremely timely.

It led to the termination of projects, the closure of the accounts on social media through which the funds were being collected, as well as the confessions of the main actors that evidence on the construction of wells in African countries was photoshopped.

The head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH Johann Sattler, addressing the audience in Sarajevo, emphasized the importance of the work of investigative journalists who reported on some of the irregularities that occurred during the pandemic.

Sattler highlighted that journalists are the ones who have raised important issues in society, including those related to the EU integration process.

In their explanation of this year’s awards, the jury composed of Zlatan Music, Davor Glavas and Slavoljub Scekic said that all three stories

were of crucial importance for Bosnia and the public.

The chairman of the jury, Music, praised the courage of the journalists, and their commitment to the topics, reflected in their research, and presentations with an abundance of details and data.

All three investigations were socially responsible and pointed out irregularities that the government not only ignored but in some cases also participated in, he said.

He added that the number of attacks on journalists was growing, due to the work they do, and he called on them to use all available protection mechanisms.

BIRN director Marija Ristic, said that we need responsible journalism today more than ever, to bring about change and have a greater impact on the public.

The awards were presented at the Reporters’ House, which will become a BIRN space and museum dedicated to journalists and media during the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, and will also serve as a meeting and learning place for all journalists.

The focus of the EU Award for Investigative Journalism is to celebrate and promote outstanding investigative journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey, as well as to improve the visibility of investigative journalism among readers in these countries.

The EU Award for Investigative Journalism is awarded as part of the EU-funded project “Strengthening the Quality of News and Independent Journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey” in 2019, 2020 and 2021 in candidate and potential candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. Awards are given for research stories published between 2018 and 2020. A total of 63 awards will be presented over a three-year period.

The awards in Bosnia and Herzegovina are coordinated by the BIRN Hub, which also runs a regional consortium.

The head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH Johann Sattler

Dzana Brkanic, BIRN BiH journalist, third prize

Mubarek Asani and Nino Bilajac, journalists from the Centre for Investigative Journalism, second prize

Online Violence Against Women Must Not Be Tolerated, Debate Told

Women who work in the public arena in the Western Balkans are regularly targeted by online threats, insults and false accusations, and existing laws must be enforced to protect them, said panelists at a BIRN debate.

Panelists at a BIRN debate entitled ‘Female Empowerment – Online Practices and Challenges’ in Sarajevo on Monday said that online insults, threats and false accusations are commonly-used weapons to discredit and discourage women who work in the public arena.

Iva Paradjanin, a Serbian journalist whose work mostly focuses on women’s rights and who runs a podcast called Tampon Zona, said that even though online violence against women has become more visible, it is still not taken seriously enough.

“We are working to empower women, to raise awareness that violence is not only physical,” Paradjanin said.

She said that online attacks have a real impact on women’s lives, and those who write offensive comments should not be allowed to remain under the illusion that they are free from any kind of responsibility.

Bosnian journalist Dalija Hasanbegovic Konakovic said that women are often attacked because they are seen as a “weaker target”.

“You should not be silent. You will feel better once you start speaking out. In that way, at least you will know that you are fighting back and that you will not be perceived as weak,” Hasanbegovic Konakovic said.

“What scares me the most is that we are losing the thread of humanity,” said Lana Prlic, a member of parliament in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Federation entity, who came under attack online after posting on social media about her COVID-19 vaccination in September 2020.

“We are mothers, sisters, daughters and so on. Those people who are sending us insults, they are forgetting about these identities,” Prlic said.

In the second part of the debate, moderator Zlatan Music from the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and panelists Samra Filipovic-Hadziabdic, director of the Agency for Gender Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maja Raicevic, director of the Centre for Women’s Rights, and Adnan Kadribasic, a lawyer and expert on human rights and gender equality, said that the main problem is the lack of response, support and goodwill from the authorities, particularly the police and prosecution.

They urged the authorities in the Western Balkans region to start implementing existing laws and sanctioning perpetrators.

“We have a good legal framework that we can use to sanction these acts. There are various possibilities, we just need to know how to use them, and to want to use them. Improving the institutional response is crucial,” said Kadribasic.

The panelists argued that speaking out about violence empowers other women who have had the same experience and gives them courage to speak out too.

“If you stand by one woman who speaks out, you are showing that she is not alone. By our example, we show whether we are united or not. We must stop normalising violence,” said Hasanbegovic Konakovic.

In the front line – protecting journalists digital safety in the time of crisis

BIRN Serbia

The project addresses the lack of adequate response to the rising trend of online harassment, threats, pressures and abuses of journalists in the online sphere.

Summary:

Since 2014, Share and BIRN digital monitoring documented hundreds of cases of digital rights violations in various forms, from technical to psychological. The initial bad situation additionally escalated during the emergency situation and Covid 19 crisis. Journalists were systemically denied access to information, while those questioning the Government measures were intimated and subjected to various forms of online harassment, even undue arrest, resulting in the lack of reliable information for the public in the time of crisis.

In spite of journalists increasingly being at risk online, it is not sufficiently recognized by the existing legal setting. Consequently, institutional mechanisms for protection of journalists are not adequate. In addition, journalists themselves don’t have enough knowledge to protect themselves and integrity of their work in these situations, while public support is sporadic. Considering the growing importance of keeping the digital space free and open in the country where in general media freedoms are in decline the project will prevent, expose, react to and help counter various forms of online harassment.

Donor:

EIDHR

Main Objective:

BIRN, IJAS, and IPI’s joint action aim to strengthen journalists’ resilience amid various forms of online harassment and pressures and thus enhance the role and position of media and civil society in standing for freedom of expression and free flow of information, as fundamental human rights. These rights are especially endangered during Covid 19 pandemic and similar crises.

Main Activities:

Monitoring of the existing legal framework and practice in response to online attacks against journalists
Advocacy actions to support IJAS/BIRN engagement in policy working groups and enable formulation of new policies and/or proper implementation in the digital sphere
Capacity building for journalists
Online platform development and promotion
Services for journalists (legal support, online crisis communication, technical support)
Journalistic production and ongoing online campaign

Target Groups:

Journalists, media outlets and media organizations
Independent institutions
CSO sector dealing with human rights
Decision makers
Citizens
International institutions dealing with human rights and media freedom

Main implementer:

Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (IJAS)

Partners:

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Serbia (BIRN Serbia)

International Press Institute (IPI)

BIRN Presents Annual Digital Rights Report in Sarajevo

BIRN presented its latest annual report on the state of digital rights in eight countries from the SEE region as part of its BIRN Open House series of events in Sarajevo.

A presentation of the latest BIRN report on digital rights in Southeast Europe took place on December 16 in Sarajevo in the form of discussions among the regional digital rights actors who mulled the mapped trends and findings from different perspectives, focusing on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The discussions examined what effects propaganda, misinformation and violence on the internet have on the reality and daily lives of citizens and vulnerable groups. Speakers in both discussions were CSOs and media representatives from Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.

The first discussion took a closer look at the report’s findings, where speakers from Bosnia elaborated the trends mapped in their country. Nevena Krivokapic from Share Foundation presented the situation in the digital environment in Serbia.

Participants discussed the denial of genocide and war crimes in the online space, while Ajna Jusic, president of the Forgotten Children of War association said that such behaviour on the internet brought further harm to victims, triggering their trauma.

She was saddened to see that most of the hateful content seen on the internet is produced and disseminated by young people. “We lack education on every level; young people are very strong when it comes to showing the keyboard, but very few of them are aware of the consequences of what they write on social networks,” Jusic said.

Nevena Krivokapić, from Share Foundation from Serbia, emphasized that that the internet has to remain a free and open space, but that accountability also has to exist. She did not see a solution in state interference and additional legal regulation of the internet. “We have laws that can be applied to the situation from the digital environment, but they are not implemented and big tech companies are still untouchable,” said Krivokapic.

Darko Brkan, from Why Not? association, spoke about the importance of the role of the media, given that the report shows that investigative journalists in Bosnia often remain the target of threats, and online portals have often appeared as attackers in many cases.

“Every crisis situation further radicalizes people, so it was in the case with the coronavirus pandemic; we must work on a collective social consciousness that implies which behaviours are unacceptable in the digital space,” Brkan concluded.

The second part of the discussion was dedicated to far-Right groups and individuals, and their influence and exploitation of the internet. Nermina Kuloglija explained how the far Right is creating a “them- and-us” narrative in the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to gain followers and spread hate in the digital space .

Nejra Veljan, from the Atlantic Initiative, said Right-wing narratives are not gender neutral and that the activities of the far Right usually deny basic reproductive freedoms, denying basic women’s rights.

Jelena Jovanović, from the media outlet Vijesti in Montenegro, warned that governments are doing very little to combat extremism and even encourage it if they can benefit from it.

Ana Petrović, from the Da se zna! assocation from Serbia, pointed out that members of the LGBT + community are often attacked by Right-wingers who “actually collect points” from this, treating their foes’ existence as a violation of traditional values and as an attack on the family.

The discussions took place in the future Reporter’s House space that will from next year host BIRN’s museum, dedicated to media and journalists, war in former Yugoslavia and challenges to contemporary journalism.

The discussions concluded that the civil sector should continue to deal with the digital space without undermining the importance of internet freedom and principles of the open internet. Events in the digital space are no different from reality and only expose the reality we fail or don’t want to see, it was agreed; the frequency and influence of digital rights violations must not be neglected.

The full version of BIRN’s annual digital rights report “Online Intimidation: Controlling the Narrative in the Balkans” can be downloaded here.

BIRN Presents Online Platform on China’s Activities in Western Balkans

BIRN’s new interactive map pinpoints China’s growing business presence in the region – which experts say media and civil society need to focus on more.

Experts and journalists have warned that Chinese loans and investments in the Balkans lack a desirable level of transparency and say more of a focus is needed on such activities.

BIRN’s new platform “China in the Balkans”, aims to shed light on China’s increased activities in the six Western Balkans countries.

In the last decade, the region has seen China’s influence grow fast, mostly through its Belt and Road Initiative, BRI.

As a relatively new player in the region, China’s investments have raised some concerns related not only to their environmental impact but to political influence, corruption and growing debt.

While these investments are growing in size and number, access to contracts and other relevant data is often difficult or impossible to find.

The interactive map pinpoints various projects undertaken by China in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Greece.

Editor Ivan Angelovski, who in recent months managed the investigation of China investments in the Balkans, said around 130 China business activities worth around 30 billion euros have been disclosed and presented in the interactive map.

“We are looking at anything related to the state, and digging into that was the real task. Governments are sending mixed messages; they are not clear what is a loan and what is direct investment,” Angelovski pointed out.

BIRN editor Ivana Jeremic said that 61 cases of China projects detected in Serbia make up almost half of all the cases presented in BIRN’s new database.

“For these cases that we were able to detect, the estimated value of projects is almost 19 billion euros … which explains the scope of influence China has in Serbia and importance of loans and investments,” Jeremic said.

“Some projects got stuck because of legal issues or environmentalists stopping some projects progressing because of environmental issues or land expropriation,” she added.

China’s activity in the region gathered speed in 2009. In that year the financial crisis that hit the world a year earlier was storming through the Balkans, and the region was scraping the bottom of the barrel to make ends meet.

Greece opened its door through the Port of Piraeus, while Serbia declared China the “fourth pillar” of its foreign policy.

Balkan countries needed money fast, and China needed a friendly corridor from the Mediterranean to Western Europe. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But it has come at a price.

By BIRN’s own count, the region hosts over 130 projects worth at least 32 billion euros linked in one way or another to China.

The “China in the Balkans” map is a result of BIRN’s research into the various types of cooperation between Beijing and countries in the region.

It shows China is concentrating on taking over metallurgy, mining, energy, and transport in the region, with most of these projects accompanied by allegations of corruption, exploitation and environmental harm.

Plamen Tonchev, head of Asia Unit at the Athens-based Institute of International Economic Relations, said Chinese business activities in the Balkans should be seen as part of a bigger picture.

“The scale is overwhelming. The fact that Western Balkans are small by any standards, the fragmentation of the region, doesn’t help. China is a giant in terms of economic capacity and everybody is dazzled by the Chinese presence,” Tonchev said.

Ana Krstinovska, program manager at the Centre for Research and Policy Making in Skopje, said China’s activities in the region need to be more of a focus for media and civil society.

“We need to develop a more nuanced and in-depth understanding of China’s activities throughout the world in order to see what China is doing here, how we can maximise our interest,” she said, “because China is here to stay and in addition to being a threat to democratic values, it is an economic opportunity that we should not be missing out on.”

Platform B: China in the Balkans – Transparency Locked

Event series by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and partners

Together with our partners, BIRN is launching a series of online and offline events aimed to amplify the voices of strong and credible individuals and organisations in the region that promote the core values of democracy, such as civic engagement, independent institutions, transparency and rule of law.

As a primarily media organisation, we want to open space and provide a platform to discuss and reshape our alliances in light of the challenges facing democracies in South-East and Central Europe.

This effort comes at a critical time when the region is seeing several troubling trends: centralized power, reduced transparency, assaults on media, politicized judiciaries, unchecked corruption, online violations and social polarization – all amidst heightened geopolitical tensions and deep divisions in Europe.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Platform B event series will be organised in accordance with all relevant health measures. As the situation improves, we hope to be able to host some of the events in BIRN spaces in Sarajevo and Belgrade, and elsewhere in the region.

The Platform B will be an opportunity for individuals and groups to meet monthly on selected topics.

Next event: China in the Balkans – Transparency Locked

Date: December 15, 2021 (Wednesday)

Time: 3pm-4.30pm, CET

In the last decade, the entire SEE region has seen Chinese influence grow, mostly through the Belt and Road Initiative, BRI. China is a relatively new player in the region, and it has raised some concerns related to the environment, political influence, corruption, and economics. While investments are growing, access to contracts and other data is often difficult, if not impossible to find.

In a bid to bring more information to these discussions and to shed light on the Chinese presence in the Western Balkans and Greece, BIRN is launching its interactive map ‘China in the Balkans.’ A result of BIRN’s research into the different cooperations between Beijing and countries in the region, the map tracks around 130 Chinese-linked projects, including foreign direct investments, but also those focused on infrastructure, culture, technology media and donations sent during the COVID-19 crisis.

Together with our journalists who worked on the project and regional and international experts, we will reflect on the findings of BIRN’s year-and-a-half-long research and discuss the implications of this Chinese presence in a broader geopolitical context.

Panelists inclide:

Ivana Jeremic, Balkan Insight editor & journalist working on Chinese activities in Serbia
Bojan Stojkovski, journalist covering Chinese activities in North Macedonia
Samir Kajosevic, Balkan Insight correspondent for Montenegro & journalist covering Chinese activities in the country
Irvin Pekmez, BIRN BiH journalist, who covered Chinese activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Plamen Tonchev, MERICS European China Policy Fellow & Head of Asia Unit Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER).
Ana Krstinovska, a Skopje-based China expert and founder of the research and consultancy services organisation ESTIMA.

Other panelists – regional and international experts – are to be announced in the coming days.

Moderator: Ivan Angelovski, BIRN investigations editor

Registration

This online event is part of BIRN Open House – a series of events hosted by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Sarajevo that aim to foster debate about key thematic areas we usually follow through our journalism, but now we want to talk with you about media freedom, justice, accountability, memory, digital rights and many other things. The events will take place in the future Reporter’s House, space that will from next year host BIRN’s museum, dedicated to media and journalists, war in former Yugoslavia and challenges to contemporary journalism.

Upcoming events as of January:

Presentation of BIRN’s report into the position of female journalists in the Western Balkans newsrooms, early January.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Training with High School Students in Gorazdevac

On December 4, BIRN Kosovo held the tenth and final training session with high school students from Gorazdveac, a Serbian village in the region of Peja, as part of the EU funded project “Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists”.

The training which was held by trainers including Darko Dimitrijevic– a journalist and Executive Director of Radio Gorazdevac and Milic Petrovic – a producer at Radio Gorazdevac was aimed at students of Kosovo’s state-run high schools that are interested in undergoing training in media production, media literacy and tackling fake news.

The program aims to nurture young talent by mentoring students in the production of videos, photos and articles in order to achieve the main goal of the activity: to create a path for increased independence, transparency, accountability and civic engagement.

A total of 11 students from Gorazdveac participated in the training, 6 of whom were women. While the training took place in the offices of Radio Gorazdevac.

At the end of the training session, youngsters pitched their journalistic ideas, which the BIRN team will collect and thoroughly analyse before selecting the articles and other materials that will be published on the online platform KallxoRinia (Kallxo Youth). The production of all of these articles will be overseen by a team of BIRN Kosovo editors.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Training with High School Students in Drenas

On December 3, BIRN Kosovo held the ninth training session with students of the “Gjegj Kastrioti Skenderbeu” high school in the municipality of Drenas as part of the EU funded project “Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists”.

The training which was held by trainers including Dorentina Kastrati – Editor of KALLXO.com and Valdet Salihu – Producer of “KALLXOPernime” was aimed at students of Kosovo’s state-run high schools that are interested in undergoing training in media production, media literacy and tackling fake news.

A total of 24 students from the social sciences department of the “Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu” high school participated, 19 of whom were women.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Training with High School Students in Malisheva

On December 3, BIRN Kosovo held the eighth training session with students of the “Hamdi Berisha” high school in the municipality of Malisheva as part of the EU funded project “Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists”.

A total of 30 students from the “Hamdi Berisha” high school participated, 22 of whom were women.