Category: News and Events

BIRN Participates in Media Policy Forum in Moldova

The Media Policy Forum was organised in Chisinau by Freedom House, the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation and Internews, and co-sponsored by USAID, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and BIRN.

“In the last few years in Moldova, we cannot talk about progress, but more about regression,”  Nadine Gogu, executive director of the Independent Journalism Centre in Chisinau, told the Media Policy Forum in the Moldovan capital on Tuesday.

The biggest problems identified by the speakers at the forum related to the increasing politicisation of the country’s media and the alleged concentration of ownership in the hands of proxies for the ruling party, which was described as a threat to the country’s democracy.

The president of the Moldovan parliament, Andrian Candu, told the forum however that “it is important that the media should be allowed to raise its economic capacity”.

Candu argued that the media should have more access to public information and that the debates at the forum should help politicians to improve mass media legislation in Moldova.

But Moldovan media NGOs complained about the unwillingness of the authorities to offer more rights to journalists.

Freedom House described Moldova as a country with a ‘partly free’ press in its 2017 Freedom of the Press index.

Participants at a panel moderated by Tim Judah, a special correspondent for The Economist, stressed the need to increase the level of media literacy in the country as a tool to combat propaganda and so-called ‘fake news’.

The director of Romanian Centre for Independent Journalism, Ioana Avadanei, described a successful media literacy programme that was implemented in some schools in Romania with young pupils.

“It is not so much fake news that causes trouble, it is disinformation that comes in many shapes and form and it’s not only about banning content from social media, it is about how to educate people today,” Avadanei said.

Credit: Freedom House in Moldova
Photo: Freedom House in Moldova

BIRN’s Macedonia Country director Ana Petruseva noted how investigative journalism had played a very significant role in the fight against the concentration of media power and the disinformation spread by government-controlled media in Macedonia over the past few years.

“We had a situation when on three to four private TV stations, we could see the same exact report… the only different thing was the voiceover,” Petruseva recalled.

The Media Policy Forum was organised in Chisinau by Freedom House, the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation and Internews, and co-sponsored by USAID, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and BIRN.

BIRN Appoints Correspondent in Mitrovica, Kosovo

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN Hub) has appointed Milan Radonjic as its correspondent in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica to strengthen its reporting from the country.

Radonjic will file reports and features on the situation in northern Kosovo, where political and ethnic tensions have remained high since the war, for BIRN’s flagship English-language website Balkan Insight.

The move is also intended to assist independent media in northern Kosovo, such as the Kossev news website.

Balkan Insight already has a dedicated correspondent in the capital Pristina as well as its editorial collaboration with Kallxo.com, BIRN Kosovo’s Albanian-language website.

BIRN Albania Holds Training on Media Advocacy

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania held a training session on March 10 in Tirana about media advocacy with young activists from grassroots and civil society organisations working to promote issues concerning minority rights, criminal justice reform and equal access to higher education.

The training session, which was attended by 17 civil society activists, was held with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, BTD.

The training was led by BIRN Albania editor Gjergj Erebara and centred on the the diversity of interests that draw the media’s attention to various issues, how different types of media function and techniques through which successful public mass communication campaigns can be built.

The participants were informed about the ethical dilemmas that stories written by journalists and information distributed by press offices might present.

The same dilemmas are central also to activism campaigns and a focus was added on how to avoid propaganda techniques.

BIRN photojournalist Ivana Dervishi shared photographic techniques with the activists and NGO representatives, speaking about how to photograph in difficult situations and explaining photojournalists’ rights.

During this session, the group also learned how to give exposure to social issues using photography and how to pitch such photo stories to media outlets in the country.

BIRN Holds Project Management Training in Romania

BIRN Hub, the organisational entity that manages the network’s regional projects and coordinates its work, organized project management training for its members in Bucharest, Romania, on March 2-4.

Project management staff, administrative and financial personnel and some journalists met together to boost their knowledge about project management cycles.

During the training, participants had a chance to improve their knowledge of project management cycles and, through interactive workshops, deepen their knowledge of project management and to learn how to contribute to it.

The training session was also a chance to strengthen relations with BIRN Romania, especially for the newcomers to BIRN.

The training was organized by Dusica Stilic, regional operations manager at BIRN Hub.

Hub Meeting Plots BIRN’s Future in Belgrade

BIRN Hub, the organisational entity that manages the network’s regional projects and coordinates work, met in Belgrade, Serbia, on February 24-25, to discuss achieved results, and plan future activities with its newly appointed Regional Director Marija Ristic.

Editorial, project management, administrative, financial, social media, and IT staff from Croatia, the UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia gathered at the event.

Over the course of 12 years, BIRN has expanded its work across the whole region and achieved striking results in terms of both editorial production and training journalists.

Its acclaimed Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme has opened a call for the 12th edition. The program has built up a strong alumni network and regional perspective both in the coverage of topics and in the work on selecting journalists.

BIRN’s investigative journalism programmes include the Summer School of Investigative Journalism, which has so far trained 250 journalists and gathered over 50 trainers and panelists, with an award-winning series of investigations, “Paper Trail.”

BIRN’s Transitional Justice programme recently entered a new phase and over the next three years will focus on building the capacities of local media and civil society in order to promote reconciliation and intercultural dialogue. This will be done through regular, in-depth, high-quality reporting from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Projects on strengthening public broadcasters in the region, covering online extremism, and strengthening media capacities in Moldova were also presented, and plans for new topics and in new regions discussed.

BIRN Albania Opens Call for Data Driven Investigations

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania is opening a call for hard-hitting, data-driven investigative stories.

The call is part of the project called “Exposing Corruption in Albania”, which is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, NED.

Three journalists will be awarded grants to cover their expenses while doing investigations and writing stories, which draw on analysis of data sets to expose corruption, abuse of power and other forms of abuse.

The journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, and will also have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as mentors to guide them through the process of data-gathering, data analysis and writing to BIRN’s standards.

The call only applies to journalists from Albania and closes on March 11, 2018.

Click here for more information (in Albanian) about the application procedure.

Click here (in Albanian) to download application.

BIRN Holds ‘Let’s Hear Women’ Workshop in Banja Luka

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) held the last of four ‘Let’s Hear Women’ workshops on media communication for women’s rights activists on February 15 in Banja Luka.

Fifteen activists from 11 non-governmental organisations from Banja Luka, Bihac and Buzim were given training to raise the profile of their cause in mainstream media.

After theoretical advice about the importance of taking an active part in public debate and the usage of social networks in NGOs’ work, BIRN BiH staged a practical workshop. The participants gave interviews on camera, watched the results, and were given feedback and recommendations about their on-screen presence and speaking style.

In order to improve interaction with their audiences on social networks, they were introduced to the targeted boosting of Facebook posts. A set of guidelines on writing and distributing public statements was offered, as well one about sending official emails.

BIRN BiH held the four ‘Let’s Hear Women’ workshops in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Mostar and Banja Luka, supported by the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A total of 46 women from 32 organisations were given training in public speaking and media communication.

Soldier Praising Mladic Faces Discipline After BIRN Report

Defence Ministry is mulling measures against Bosnian army soldier whose activities on social networks were reported by BIRN.

The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched disciplinary proceedings against a soldier named Djordje Tojcic, whose Instagram profile praised the former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic.

The International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, ICTY, in The Hague, found Mladic guilty of genocide in the town of Srebrenica and of other war crimes.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BIH, reported that police were investigating allegation about Tojcic’s activities on social networks.

It said police had reviewed the allegations about Tojcic, who on his Instagram profile published a picture of Mladic’s military cap from the 1992-5 war in Bosnia with the description: “Europe knows, but will not admit, the general fought against terrorism.”

Following the description of the image, Tojcic added the message: “Thank you for everything!!”

Bosnia’s Defence Ministry stated that measures would be imposed on Tojcic if a disciplinary proceeding confirms the allegations.

Marija Ristic Appointed as New BIRN Network Director

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Regional Network (BIRN Hub) has appointed Marija Ristic to the positon of Regional Network Director, to replace the current director, Gordana Igric.

Marija Ristic has been appointed as BIRN’s Regional Network Director, effective from May 1 this year.

She will lead the BIRN Hub, which coordinates the BIRN network, dealing with editorial, training, operations and development, as well as developing, fundraising for and coordinating core regional projects.

Since its inception, BIRN has attracted exceptional professionals to its team who have helped the organisation over the years to flourish and become a trusted source of information, and Ristic is one of the foremost examples, said Gordana Igric, the current BIRN Regional Network Director.

“I feel confident that she will bring fresh ideas and new energy to the Network, as well as passionately guard the quality of programmes within the Hub,” Igric said.

Ristic started working for BIRN in 2011 as a journalist, contributing to the regional Balkan Transitional Justice programme. Topics related to facing the past, reconciliation and transitional justice have been at the core of her professional development.

In 2015, Ristic produced the award-winning documentary ‘The Unidentified’, which was screened across the Europe and the United States.

She also made BIRN one of the first media organisations in the Western Balkans to initiate regular reporting about violent extremism, populism and propaganda under the regional Resonant Voices Initiative, which also involved training journalists to cover these topics.

“It is a privilege and an honour to lead such an exceptional team of professionals who have been at the forefront of defending media freedoms, human rights and setting the highest journalistic standards across the Western Balkans region,” Ristic said.

Ristic has significant expertise and knowledge related to media, transitional justice, human rights, democratic processes and EU integration.

She has also been actively involved in organisational development, fundraising and expanding the organisation’s influence regionally and abroad over the past several years.

Ristic is a graduate of the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. She has received numerous awards and scholarships from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the OSCE, Zoran Djindjic Foundation and the Research Council of Norway. She is currently a fellow at the Free University in Berlin, Germany enrolled in the European Journalism Fellowship programme, researching universal jurisdiction.

Gordana Igric, the outgoing Regional Network Director, set up BIRN in 2004, and over the past 14 years has overseen its growth from a handful of employees to around 150, with six offices in the Western Balkans, journalistic coverage from 13 countries, and 16 websites in English and local languages.

‘Weak’ Serbian Media Can’t Resist Political Pressure: Research

Serbian media outlets’ economic weakness means journalists are vulnerable to pressure on their reporting, suggests new research conducted as part of a project involving BIRN, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation.

Serbian media’s economic unsustainability and dependence on the authorities for advertising, combined with a poor professional culture and a lack of protection and financial security for journalists, allows politicians to exert control over media organisations, according to the research published on Tuesday.

According to the findings of the research, conducted by the Slavko Curuvija Foundation as part of a project with BIRN and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, pressure usually comes from the authorities and political parties, then from editors, and then advertisers.

The executive branch exerts the strongest effects over journalists’ work, the research suggested.

“The minister calls the managing editor or the ‘Dnevnik’ [daily news show] editor or deputy, or someone from the PR service calls, you never know who, but they do it non-stop,” said one journalist working for Serbia’s public broadcaster, RTS.

Another journalist interviewed for the research said that “the [president’s] office dictates who should not be invited as a guest”.

The research was conducted through an online survey of 177 journalists and 10 in-depth interviews with employees of various media that showed indications that they had been exposure to strong pressures from outside or within.

Of all the journalists polled, 69 per cent said they encountered at least one form of pressure from the authorities. Over half of them – 56 per cent – encountered pressure from political party representatives.

Editorial pressure was experienced by 47 per cent; 41 per cent faced pressure from management, a third from the advertisers and 30 per cent from the media owners.

Institutions and parties obstructed journalists by refusing to provide them with information, while officials turned down requests for statements and interviews, and expressed displeasure with media coverage, according to the survey.

Journalists also reported “systemic discrimination” against their media organisations, which included the denial of public funds and not receiving invitations to public events.

Over half of the journalists surveyed said that their outlet or its reporters had been publicly denounced by officials.

According to the survey, officials also insisted that the media publish, change, or withhold certain information about them or their institutions or parties, while almost half of the polled journalists faced open insults from public officials.

Forms of control exercised by editorial staff included turning down offers of coverage of certain topics and requesting coverage of topics with no professional justification.

Around a third of the surveyed journalists also reported cases of editors turning down already finished reports, plus distortion of the tone of reports and headlines to make them either positive or negative.

When it came to pressures from management, most commonly reported were requests for preferential treatment of advertisers in daily reporting.

Journalists also reported requests for covert advertising –publishing promotional content disguised as a journalistic report.

Around a third of the journalists surveyed reported that management interfered with the selection of topics to be covered and which assignments were given to which reporters.

Management also demanded preferential treatment for certain political subjects, called for some stories not to be published, and interfered with the selection of sources, the surveyed journalists alleged.

Other forms of pressure included the dismissal of employees and demands to support certain electoral campaigns, according to the survey.

Journalists further reported cases of advertisers threatening to pull their ads, reneging on their financial obligations, and requesting covert advertising – promotional content made to look like a journalistic report.