News and Events Archives - Page 118 of 264

BIRN Albania Holds Workshop On Health

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania on Thursday May 3rd held a workshop on corruption, mismanagement and abuse of office in the health sector in Albania.

About 25 journalists, civil society activists, representatives of the office of the Ombudsman and the High State Auditing Office in Albania attended.

The workshop was part of “Transparency on Healthcare through data and investigative journalism”, a project supported by the United States Development Agency, USAID.

The goal of the workshop aimed to identify topics for the upcoming call of BIRN Albania for investigative grants in the health sector, but also sought to build bridges of cooperation between civil society organizations, journalists and independent institutions.

During the course of the workshop, representatives of the High State Auditing Office and the Ombudsman presented the methodologies they use to monitor public institutions and together with civil society representatives discussed ways in which the media can cooperate in fighting corruption in the health sector.

The workshop will be followed by a call for investigative stories that will be published on BIRN Albania’s award winning website, Reporter.al.

BBC and Al Jazeera English release BIRN-backed documentaries

The BBC and Al Jazeera English have produced investigative documentaries in recent months working alongside BIRN’s in-house investigative team.

BIRN has collaborated with the BBC and Al Jazeera English in recent months to investigate the far-right in the Balkans and a secretive arms pipeline to Syria.

The Al Jazeera English probe built on BIRN and OCCRP’s award-winning series of investigations, Making a Killing http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/page/balkan-arms-trade, which delved into how Balkan weapons were flooding the Syrian battlefields.

The “America’s Guns: Secret Pipeline to Syria” documentary was first broadcast in March on Al Jazeera’s People and Power show and involved filming in Croatia, Bulgaria and the US.

The report brought BIRN’s findings to a wider audience, revealed the human cost of the scramble to train and equip US-backed Syrian militia. BIRN published two articles on the back of the research: Death in Bulgaria: Pentagon Contractor’s Widow Fights For Truth and US Splurges More Cash on Balkans Arms for Syria.

On May 1, the BBC and BIRN published the fruits of its collaboration into the British nationalists operating in the Balkans. The BBC produced television and radio documentaries focussing on “the invisible man of Britain’s far right” – Jim Dowson – and his activities in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Kosovo: Is this Britain’s most influential far-right activist?

BIRN released its own investigation, focussing on how Jim Dowson and an organisation he is closely linked to are increasingly active in Serbia: British Nationalist Trains Serb Far-Right for ‘Online War.

As part of the research, BIRN also employed a cyber forensic expert Andrej Petrovski of the Share Foundation, who is helping journalists improve their investigations by using cutting edge technologies.

These collaborations are part of BIRN’s Paper Trail to Better Governance programme, funded by the Austrian Development Agency.

BIRN Reports Nominated for Investigative Awards in Serbia

Two BIRN reports have been nominated for this year’s Investigative awards from the Independent Journalistic Association of Serbia in the categories for on-line media.

The first is The Coyote’s Trail – A Machine Gun’s Path from Serbia to Syria, produced within BIRN Hub’s project Paper Trail for Better Governance and in cooperation with OCCRP, and written by Ivan Angelovski, Jelena Cosic, Lawrence Marzouk and Maria Cheresheva.

It explores how heavy machine guns travelled from a Serbian state-owned factory to Syrian rebels, via a Bulgarian arms tycoon and a Saudi training camp.

The second is BIRN Serbia’s investigative story (part one and two) about illegal construction at the Kopaonik National Park, written by Slobodan Georgiev.

The report shows that a building under construction did not fall into line with the directions of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia.

The report initiated a rapid-response inspection by the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia, which ordered the investor to knock down the building and clean up the area, which lies at the highest point of Kopaonik mountain. A restaurant was built at the site despite the order, but the case is still ongoing.

Journalists Trained for Environmental Investigations in Montenegro

BIRN, CIN Montenegro and Monitor magazine held a training course in Podgorica from April 26-28 for journalists, teaching the investigative skills needed to produce stories covering environmental issues.

Topics covered by the course included investigative journalism techniques, online storytelling, multimedia training, video and photo editing, as well as information on domestic and EU politics in the sphere of environmental protection.

A call for investigative stories with an environmental angle was launched in March as part of a project to strengthen investigative reporting in Montenegro, founded by the EU Delegation in Podgorica.

Three journalists have been awarded grants to cover their expenses while carrying out investigations and writing stories on the environment and related to Chapter 27 within the EU accession process.

The journalists will have nine months to dig deeper and research their ideas, and will also have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

BIRN BiH Contributes to Report on EU Application

The Initiative for Monitoring the European Integration of BiH presented ‘Alternative Analytical Report on the Application of BiH for EU Membership: Political Criteria 2018’ at a press conference in front of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Parliamentary Assembly on April 24.

BIRN BiH actively participated in producing the report, providing a set of answers covering transitional justice and domestic judiciary topics.

Mirna Buljugic, BIRN BiH’s country director, spoke on behalf of the Initiative about dealing with the past, stressing the key problems of non-existent cooperation between the countries of the former Yugoslavia in processing war crimes, the non-transparent judicial institutions in the country, attacks on the media, and the growing problem of rising extremism and foreign influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After the presentation, representatives of the Initiative sent the report to all the members of the Parliamentary Assembly and to members of Council of Ministers.

More information about the report is available here .

Between Pressures and Praises – BIRN Network Annual Report 2017

In 2017, BIRN Network operated in an environment of declining media freedoms and unregulated media markets, where authorities and pro-governmental media outlets pressured members of the Network and its journalists; nevertheless, BIRN received national and international prizes as well as different kinds of informal praise.

An unfavourable media situation and the lack of proper cooperation with institutions—sometimes even hostile attitude towards BIRN—occasionally hinders the work of the organisation. However, through this report, we also underscore the best results of BIRN’s work, including the praise it has received.

The report shows what the organisation did to offer high quality journalistic work and to provide citizens with reliable, timely and in-depth reporting as well as BIRN’s contribution to improving media freedom and openness of public institutions. It also highlights the instances in which BIRN’s work had a strong political and social impact, showing that—despite difficulties—professional journalistic reporting can conclude in tangible results.

The whole report is available here [link].

BIRN Serbia Holds ‘Public Money’ Workshops and Training

Two evaluation workshops, for researchers and local partners in BIRN Serbia’s ‘Public Money for Public Interest’ project, were held from April 19 to April 20 at the Park Hotel in Belgrade.

From April 18 to April 20, additional training was held at the same venue for civil society organisations on the topic “Public participation in the process of defining, implementing and monitoring public interest in the field of local public information”.

Five local civil society representatives attended the training course. The main goal was to provide participants with skills and knowledge in the field of participatory processes in order to include citizens in the process of defining, implementing and monitoring public interest in the media.

Three of the five organisations will have the opportunity to continue working on the ‘Public Money for Public Interest’ project as subgrantees.

The evaluation workshops were organised in order to find out how organizations and researchers included in the project saw the processes in which they participated.

The training and the evaluation workshop for local partners were held by a consultant on the ‘Public Money for Public Interest’ project, Radmila Mikovic.

During the evaluation, seven local partners gained insight into the changes that result from the implemented project initiatives in their local communities. They also discussed the challenges they faced and ways to overcome them.

The evaluation workshop for researchers was held by Tanja Maksic and Lada Vucenovic from BIRN. During the workshop, the researchers analysed their own progress and talked about new skills and knowledge which still need to be acquired.

Balkan Insight Cited in Books and International Studies

BIRN’s regional publication Balkan Insight has been quoted in a number of books and international studies on transitional justice, geopolitics, social and minority issues during 2017 and 2018.

Balkan Insight was quoted in ‘Some Kind of Justice: the ICTY’s Impact in Bosnia and Serbia’, published in 2018 by the prestigious Oxford University Press.

The author is Diane Orentlicher, professor of international law at Washington College of Law, American University.

The book focuses on the UN war crime court’s impact on victims’ experience of justice, on accountability processes, and on official, elite, and community discourses about the wars.

Another book focusing on transitional justice issues that cited Balkan Insight was ‘Replicating Atonement: Foreign Models in the Commemoration of Atrocities’, published in 2017.

In the book, regional and country studies cover post-conflict experiences of Argentina, Canada, Japan, Lebanon, Rwanda, Russia, Turkey, the United States and the former Yugoslavia.

Balkan Insight was also cited in ‘Tourism and Geopolitics – Issues and Concepts from Central and Eastern Europe’, edited by Derek Hall and published in 2017.

The book explores relationships between tourism and geopolitics in the Central and Eastern Europe.

Other publications from 2017 and 2018 that cited Balkan Insight texts include ‘Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Genocide and Memory’, edited by Jutta Lindert and Armen T. Marsoobian and published by Springer International Publishing, and ‘Liquid Nationalism and State Partitions in Europe’ by Stefano Bianchini, published by Edward Elgar Publishing.

BIRN Editor Wins Case Against Serbian Pro-Govt Tabloid

A Belgrade court has fined the pro-government tabloid newspaper Informer for publishing untruths about BIRN in Serbia and its editor, Slobodan Georgiev.

Belgrade Appeals Court on Friday confirmed that Informer published false information and damaged the reputation of BIRN Serbia editor Slobodan Georgiev in an article published by the tabloid entitled “They Wanted to Snatch 23.2 Million Euros”.

According to the final verdict, Informer’s editor Dragan Vucicevic and its publishing company, Insajder Tim, have to pay a 100,000-dinar fine (around 830 euros).

Vucicevic was also ordered to publish the verdict in the next issue of the tabloid.

Georgiev launched the case before the Belgrade Higher Court in March 2015.

Pro-government tabloid attacks on BIRN started after the publication of an investigation into the public tender for draining the Tamnava mine, which was flooded in 2014.

The tabloid alleged that BIRN had “attacked the Serbian government for corruption and crime” on behalf of the EU because the government rejected Brussels’ request to award the Tamnava mine contract to a foreign company.

The court found Informer’s editor-in-chief responsible for publishing untruths and insults that endangered the safety of BIRN’s editor.

Georgiev said that despite the verdict, the case remains open until the editor and publisher of Informer pays the fine and published the verdict.

“The case is not closed until then,” Georgiev said.

When BIRN asked Informer’s editor-in-chief Vucicevic for a comment on the verdict, he responded by directing more insults against Georgiev.

Serbia Tabloid Targets BIRN, Other Media, as ‘Mercenaries’

Peace Women Sue Serbian Tabloid for Libel

BIRN Kosovo Holds Discussion with Multi-Ethnic Journalists

BIRN Kosovo organised a discussion on April 11 in Gracanica, bringing together journalists from various ethnic communities in Kosovo – Albanian, Serb, Bosnian – with the aim of increasing cooperation between them.

During the discussion, speakers said that one of the main problems they face on a daily basis is the lack of knowledge of other communities’ languages.

The journalists also noted that they do not know each other in person, and said that this would improve their cooperation and eliminate any so-called “fear” of one another.

Petrit Çollaku from the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo (AGK) said that the situation in terms of cooperation is currently stagnant.

He suggested that Serb journalists should visit Pristina frequently, in order to get acquainted with the social and political problems of Kosovo.

This is the second consecutive year that this project has been organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, supported by the European Union Office in Kosovo.