Category: News and Events

The evaluation of BFJE programme on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, carried by Brankica Petkovic, Researcher and Project Manager at the Peace Institute, Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies in Ljubljana, concluded that the programme had been of high value to the journalists who had been given the opportunity to participate in it up to now.

“For almost all individual fellows interviewed within our review, participation in the BFJE has been a milestone in their professional growth and careers. It has crucially influenced the way they work in and perceive their own profession,” the review said.

“They speak of the emancipatory influence of the programme on them, about expanded horizons and skills, a changed mind-set and spirit, greater openness for cross-border journalism and their own positioning among journalists of the world,” the review added.

The evaluation included semi-structured interviews with 26 relevant stakeholders, including 14 former fellows, but also with members of the Fellowship implementing structure, as well as external observers, such as editors and media experts.

It stressed the considerable evidence of the impact of these stories on society, in terms of increased public awareness, public debates or even policy changes.

“In some cases, stories have even directly affected people’s lives, enabling them, for instance, to initiate legal battles for justice. Some stories led to follow-ups, either by the same journalist after the Fellowship program, or by other journalists in the region but also in international media,” the evaluation said.

The Unidentified’ was screened for viewers in former Yugoslav countries as part of Al Jazeera Balkans’ ‘Regioskop’ slot, which usually reaches over 500,000 viewers. 

The film was put on the channel’s website immediately after the broadcast and has recorded 33,800 views to date. 

‘The Unidentified’ investigates attacks on Kosovo villages in 1999 and names those involved in an attempted cover-up operation to conceal the crimes. 

It takes viewers back to the villages of Ljubenic, Cuska, Pavljan and Zahac, near Pec/Peja in Kosovo, in the spring of 1999, when Serbian forces killed more than 118 Albanian civilians.

 The victims’ bodies were burned or removed, and some of them were subsequently found in a mass grave at a police training centre in Batajnica, near Belgrade, in 2001. 

The trial of the fighters alleged to have been involved in the killings – ten of them accused of being direct perpetrators – is still ongoing in Belgrade, but the police and army generals who gave the orders have never been prosecuted in Serbia. 

The documentary had its international premiere at 2015 Sarajevo Film Festival and has been screened at various other festivals and institutes, in Paris, New York, Washington DC, Zagreb, Belgrade, Tirana, Maribor and Los Angeles where it won the best short documentary award at the South East European Film Festival.

The next screening of the film on Al Jazeera Balkans is scheduled for May.

The project, entitled ‘Investigate for ME and EU’, which is being implemented by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) and BIRN, began in February.

“CIN and BIRN jointly won this grant in the first-ever EC media call to be organized in Montenegro, and this collaboration is of particular importance for us. Through the partnership with BIRN, CIN-CG – established just three years ago – will strengthen its capacities, both in terms of supporting journalistic investigations and in managing an EU project,” said Milka Tadic Mijovic, president of CIN-CG.

“Investigative stories about the process of EU integration will be produced by the members of our team and journalists from other Montenegrin media – those that win in the call for the best investigative proposals, which is already open. They will deal with the biggest challenges in the country’s negotiations with the EU, including corruption, the rule of law, and environmental issues,” Tadic Mijovic explained.

The recently-published report by the ECRI, the human rights monitoring body of the Council of Europe, repeatedly cites articles from Balkan Insight published between 2013-2016.

The articles include pieces dealing with hate speech, elections, the schooling system, incidents that sparked ethnic tensions, attacks on the LGBT community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and problems related to releasing census data due to political disputes.

The ECRI report concluded that politicians in the country were still resistant to ehthic integration.

“While welcoming the quick reaction by the politicians to the attacks against returnees, and measures taken to resolve problems of discrimination faced by the Roma community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the anti-racism commission denounced a persistent lack of political will to build an inclusive society in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the report said.

“Ethnically segregated education systems are still in place and the political elites of the three main ethnic groups show no willingness to embrace integrated schools. Inter-ethnic tensions remain dangerously high and hate speech is still frequently used in the public discourse,” it added.