Category: News and Events

Fellows for 2015 Selected

The 10 participants for this year’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence have been chosen.

The programme received more than 150 applications and many were of a very high standard, making the final choice extremely difficult.

Members of the programme’s independent selection committee evaluate applications based on the relevance, feasibility and originality of the proposals, as well as the applicants’ professional qualifications, motivation and journalistic approach. The committee is comprised of seven senior media figures from the Balkans and around Europe.

BIRN and its partners in the fellowship programme thank all the applicants and encourage those who were not successful to consider applying again next year.

Here are the fellows for 2015, listed alphabetically by surname:

Fotini Barka (Greece)

Lindita Cela (Albania)

Vladimir Karaj (Albania)

Konstantinos Koukoumakas (Greece)

Jasmina Lazic (Serbia)

Jeton Mehmeti (Kosovo)

Mariya Petkova (Bulgaria)

Damir Pilic (Croatia)

Laura Stefanut (Romania)

Zornitsa Stoilova (Bulgaria)

The Fellows’ topics will be published in due course. They include the effects of the war in Syria, religious tension, human trafficking, education, culture and labour conditions.

The word cloud above gives a flavour of the topics covered in previous years, drawing on the headlines and introductions of Fellowship stories.

BIRN Serbia Holds Heathcare Financing Debate

The debate on Tuesday heard how the Law on Public Procurement is causing problems for the healthcare system and needs to be changed.

Berislav Vekić, state secretary at the Ministry of Health, told the reminded that the ministry had launched an initiative to change the law.

“We cannot, as a ministry, change the law by ourselves, it is up to the government,” he said, adding that although he expects changes, he cannot promise anything.

Vekić noted that health minister Zlatibor Loncar has already taken the initiative and raised the public procurement problem in the Serbian assembly.

He said that there were problem not only with acquiring linear accelerators, but also magnets, scanners, large appliances for diagnostic procedures, ultrasound and X-ray machines.

“We are the first ministry that acknowledged the data that we have 65 per cent of total health personnel – doctors – who are aged between 55 and 65 years. I wonder what has been done in previous years regarding the rejuvenation of staff and why nobody made sure that we didn’t get into a situation of shortage of specialist personnel in certain areas,” Vekić said.

He said that nearly a third of staff employed in health institutions are actually non-medical staff. “The previous administration employed drivers, porters, stokers and administrative staff, so every third person is a non-medical worker,” said Vekić.

He added that last year about 1,000 health workers were employed – 400 doctors and 600 nurses and medical technicians.

Opposition Democratic Party MP and member of the parliamentary committee for Health and Family, Dušan Milisavljević said that politics should not be the deciding factor in the health sector, noting that many previous governments, including his own, hadn’t considered health and the health sector a priority.

“The health sector is outdated and does not reflect the needs of the citizens of Serbia at the present time,” he said, naming the Law on Public Procurement as one of the major problems.

“Because of this law we are waiting for a radiation therapy appliance for 2.5 years, so patients suffering from severe malignant diseases are waiting in line for radiation therapy for several months, although it has to be done after two, not more than three weeks after surgery,” Milisavljevic explained.  

He said that the law is generally not bad since it centralizes the procurement process and thus decreases the possibility for corruption, but it needs to be changed and adjusted to actual needs.  

Director of legal affairs of the Republic Fund for Health Insurance (RFZO) Petar Stajković said that it was impossible for two or three regulations to solve all problems.

Stajković said there are two crucial laws that even do not recognize the system of health insurance and health care – the Public Procurements Law and the Law on the Budget System.   

“The Law on public procurement of medical equipment and medicines is implemented in the same way one procures chemicals for household maintenance,” warned Stajkovic.

He said that the Law on the Budget System does not recognize health issues in a proper way, as health institutions aren’t budgetary institutions but direct users of public funds through contracts, and rigid application of the law very often leads healthcare institutions into problems.

At the debate, participants also got acquainted with the results of the analysis of the sources of finance for healthcare institutions, implemented by CSO Legal Scanner, and its main finding that some regulations govern the area of finance in a direct way, while others require specific legal interpretation and so have to be changed and unified with other legislative documents in this area.

This debate and the report on sources of financing of health care institutions were produced with the financial assistance of the European Union, within the programme “Strengthening Media Freedom”. The views expressed at the debate and the contents of the document are the sole responsibility of BIRN Serbia and other event participants and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

BIRN Stories Win Awards in Macedonia

The Macedonian Media Institute on Thursday presented the awards for best investigative stories for 2014. First prize went to Ljubisa Arsic of the weekly Fokus for a series of stories named “Secret manufacturing plant for passports”.

 

Second prize went to Sonja Kolevska–Delevska, of the daily Vest, for a series of stories on rapes of minors at the Educational Correctional Center in Tetovo.

Third prize went to BIRN’s story, by Vlado Apostolov, Saska Cvetkovska and Nela Lazarevic, called “Skopje Landfill Tender Winner: No experience, no investment,” which was written with the support of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting Fund.

Journalist Marija Mitevska won an honorable mention for a story named “Dream of Luxury Hotels Vanishes in Macedonia,” supported by BIRN Macedonia’s project for investigative journalism, funded By USAID.

Vladimir Kalinski also got an honorable mention for BIRN’s story “The pollution in Skopje – crime without culprits”.

Honorable mentions went also to journalists Valentina Stojanchevska, Vlatko Stojanovski and Zhaklina Hadzi–Zafirova.

The Macedonian Media Institute awards have been given since 2001 with a view to improving and promoting investigative journalism. Since 2013, theawards have been named after the late owner and editor of weekly “Fokus”, Nikola Mladenov, who died in a car accident.

 

Serbia Press Council Backs BIRN Against ‘Informer’

The Complaints Commission unanimously agreed to issue a public reprimand to the Informer newspaper following its reports on BIRN’s investigation into the Tamnava mine.

In a session on February 26, the Commission ruled that Informerviolated the section of the Code of Journalists of Serbia related to the veracity of reporting in the article entitled “Wanted to get hold of 23.2 million euro, but are still ‘reputable journalists’ and diplomats,” which it published on January 15.

“BIRN editorial is presented ‘as being part of a media mob and of racketeering the state on behalf of the EU’ and Informerdid not even think that it should all be proved.

“Members of the Commission unanimously decided that Informer had violated the Code of Journalists of Serbia and imposed a public reprimand,” the Commission said.

Since Informer is not the member of the Press Council, it is not obliged to publish the Commission’s decision.

The ruling follows BIRN’s submission of a complaint against Informerto the Complaints Commission of the Press Council on January 23 in connection to the newspaper’s reports on BIRN’s investigation into the Tamnava mine.

In the midst of a public debate on the investigation, “Pumping out the mine and the budget,” Informerpublished false information, slander and unsubstantiated accusations, intentionally or unintentionally ignoring the substance of the topics BIRN dealt with, thus jeopardizing BIRN’s professional credibility and personal integrity, and the safety of BIRN’s journalists.

“The head of BIRN, journalist Slobodan Georgijev, instead of apologizing for the lie, continues to accuse the government of censorship, and claims that he is being persecuted!?!” Informerwrote on January 15.

It also accused BIRN of wanting to get hold of 23.2 million euro. Informer dubbed BIRN journalists corrupt, saying that the EU had paid them to lobby for some EU companies to win the tender in Serbia to clear out the mine.

 

BIRN Macedonia Launches Seventh Call for Investigative Reports

BIRN Macedonia, together with Centre for Investigative journalism – SCOOP Macedonia and the Centre for Civil Communications launched the seventh call for investigative stories on March 2nd.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In this call that closes on March 16, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story.

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

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life.

The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia. More calls for investigative grants will follow.

Click for more information about the application procedure, with details in Macedonian.

BIRN Builds up Library of Investigative Journalism

BIRN Macedonia on February 25 donated a variety of books to the School of Journalism and Public Relations in Macedonia in order to provide additional support to the students of the school in strengthening their skills and knowledge of investigative journalism.

The donation consisted of more than 20 books on topics related to investigative journalism, covering trends in journalism, mining data, computing-assisted reporting, data visualization, manuals and best practices in investigative journalism in the world, and more.

BIRN also donated copies of BIRN’s guide to investigative journalism in the Balkans, “Digging Deeper”, by Sheila Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor at Columbia University New York.

The main purpose of the books is to help students of journalism in Macedonia to expand their knowledge in the field with the latest literature available at the moment. Apart from students at the School for Journalism, the books may be used by students of other faculties, journalists and media professionals.

This donation was supported by the US Embassy in Macedonia and the USAID Mission in Macedonia through its Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society.

Albania Reporters Trained on Likely Impact of Reform

On February 20th and 21st BIRN Albania held a two-day workshop in the city of Durres with ten journalists on the country’s administrative and territorial reform and its impact on the local elections, due at the end of June. 

The training was held as part of the “Accountability in Local Governance through Citizen Participation and Civic Journalism” project, supported by the US Embassy in Albania Democracy Small Grants Program.

This project aims to bridge the gap between local voters and mayoral candidates ahead of the 2015 local elections, by strengthening the capacities of CSOs, grassroots organizations, activists and the media in order to identify and stimulate public debate on the key issues facing local communities.

Reporters were trained by two independent experts on the changes that the new administrative reform will bring to the administrative map, on the way new municipalities are organized, and on the impact these changes will have on local governance and democracy.

The journalists also were also presented with information on how the administrative reform will impact on the upcoming electoral contest. 

The ten journalists, representing local media in Albania, were also trained by BIRN editors into identifying important issues for local communities in cooperation with CSOs.

Following the two-day formal training, the local journalists will develop a working plan and carry out at least 30 interviews and open discussions sessions (focus groups) with representatives of grassroots organizations, activists and representatives of relevant groups in each region of the country.

The interviews with community members will aim to identify key issues for each population subgroup in the run-up to the local elections.

Belgrade Insight Kicked Out of Distribution Points

Distribution of Belgrade Insight has been stopped at Belgrade airport and at Tourist Organisation of Belgrade centres – in what appears a continuation of the government-led campaign against BIRN.

 

As of February, BIRN’s English language newspaper, Belgrade Insight, will no longer be distributed at one of the paper’s biggest distribution points – Tourist Organisation of Belgrade centres.

While distribution of the free newspaper has also halted at Dufry outlets at Nikola Tesla Airport, negotiations with this company remain ongoing.

Dufry, a global travel retailer that operates over 1,700 shops in airports, on cruise liners, at seaports, and other tourist locations in more than 60 countries, pulled Belgrade Insight from its venues on February 6.

Dufry, which has been hosting Belgrade Insight pick-up points since 2008, said the company had no written contract that obliges it to continue distributing the newspaper.

Miodrag Popovic, the acting director of the Tourist Organisation of Belgrade, TOB, told BIRN that Belgrade Insight’s editorial concept was not appropriate for tourist info centres.

“When in comes to distribution of your publication in the tourist-information centers of TOB, the answer lies in the definition of these centres,” he said.

“They are tourist-information [centres] and materials that there can be found there, in addition to souvenirs, of course, are those who have tourist information purposes only. Your newspapers have a different editorial policy,” Popovic said on February 20.

TOB did not inform Belgrade Insight of its intention to end cooperation.Instead, staff at TOB info-centres, visited by Belgrade Insight readers, told them they would no longer be able to pick up their copies in TOB venues. “We just got a call that we should pull the paper,” one employee told BIRN.

The sudden curbs on the distribution of BIRN’s newspaper come after the government of Serbia launched a fierce attack on BIRN in January.

This was in response to BIRN’s publication of an investigation into the tender awarded for dewatering the state-owned Tamnava mine.

The investigation said the power company EPS awarded the contract to a consortium of two companies with no relevant experience, one of whose directors is standing trial for tax evasion.

“Tell those liars that they have lied again. They got the money from [Michael] Davenport [head of the EU delegation in Belgrade] and the EU to speak against the Serbian government,” Aleksandar Vucic, the Prime Minister, said.

Gordana Igric, BIRN regional director, said the latest developments showed that the campaign was ongoing.

“We perceive the fact that Belgrade Insight is being kicked out of venues that have been our partners for years as continuation of the campaign against BIRN in which state institutions and companies – which by the nature of their job have to cooperate with the state – are participating,” she said.

“This is not happening only to us. Mechanisms for ensuring media obedience differ, from conditioning awards of commercial contracts to financial control over media,” she added.

Readers can pick up copies of Belgrade Insight at the hall of BIRN’s Belgrade office at Kolarceva 7, as well as at venues listed bellow.

Readers may order home delivery of the newspaper by visiting http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/page/subscribe-to-belgrade-insight.

For additional information please contact [email protected].

BIRN Macedonia Promotes 2015 Fellowship

BIRN Macedonia has launched the ninth Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, this year on the theme of ‘Values’.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network office in Macedonia on February 18 held a reception to promote the ninth annual Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. Experienced journalists are invited to send story proposals by February 25 based on the theme of “Values”.

BIRN Macedonia Director Ana Petruseva explained the programme to journalists and editors who wish to apply with proposals for stories that involve cross-border investigations.

“The Fellowship is an opportunity to learn from some of the best journalists and editors out there and for your stories to be published in such renowned world media outlets as the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian and others,” Petrusheva said.

Macedonian 2014 Fellow Marija Mitevska said work on such investigative stories was time-consuming but she nevertheless urged journalists to apply for what she called a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”.

The application deadline is February 25. Journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Greece and Serbia are eligible.

Applicants selected for the Fellowship will receive €2,000 as a bursary and up to another €2,000 for travel and research expenses. They will also attend international seminars and receive one-to-one mentoring for their stories.

Completed articles will be published in English and in local languages by leading regional and international media. In addition, the top three articles will receive awards of €4,000, €3,000 and €1,000.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme is supported by the ERSTE Foundation and the Open Society Foundation in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN.

The application form, guidelines and further information about the fellowship are available online: fellowship.birn.eu.com.

BIRN’s Response to Johannes Hahn on Media Freedom

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is issuing a statement after Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiation, said he could not react to claims about media freedom violations in Serbia without seeing proof. BIRN is sending its response to all relevant human rights organisations, EU diplomats and international journalists.

„The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network would like to express its alarm and serious concern over the statement of Johannes Hahn, the EU’s Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations who has said that he needs to see evidence of declining media freedom in Serbia.

At a press briefing in Brussels on Monday Commissioner Hahn said that he could not react to claims about violations of press freedom in Serbia without seeing concrete evidence. He said:

“I have heard this several times [concerns about media freedom] and I am asking always about proofs….I am willing to follow up such reproaches, but I need…evidence and not only rumours,” Hahn told journalists.

The recent onslaught on our network is clear proof of what is happening in Serbia. Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s Prime Minister, targeted us, unleashing a wave of attacks in which we were branded as “liars”, “mercenaries” and “traitors’. Some of the material has been detailed here: https://birn.eu.com/en/page/birn-under-fire.

We see fit to remind Mr Hahn that, coupled with the attacks on us, came attacks on the European Commission itself which has funded an investigative reporting project published by BIRN. It was accused of paying BIRN to attack the Serbian government.

In the first week of vicious campaign, 170 reports were published about us. Only four media outlets in Serbia gave BIRN room to respond. No mainstream media reported on the corruption story published by BIRN, which triggered the attacks. By contrast the prime minister’s accusations against us were widely covered.

Mr Vucic’s demonstration of power sends the chilling message that a similar fate awaits any other critical voices. Campaigns have now followed against the Serbian Ombudsman and Humanitarian Law Center.

Other media have suffered significant pressures, and journalists talk of direct pressures and self-censorship which has been documented by the Association of Serbian journalists in December 2014.

The new World Press Freedom Index ranked Serbia in 67th position, a fall from the 54th place it had one year ago.

This ranking is also in line with European Commission’s own 2014 progress report which noted “concerns about deteriorating conditions for the full exercise of freedom of expression in Serbia.” Indeed Commissioner Hahn’s statement stands in a somewhat baffling and stark contrast to the report which warned of a “growing trend of self-censorship which, combined with undue influence on editorial policies, and a series of cases of intervention against websites, are detrimental to freedom of the media and adversely affect the development of professional and investigative journalism.”

In Serbia and the rest of the region, there is a widespread belief that democracy and freedom of expression are less important concerns for the EU than the issue of maintaining stability. We believe that this is a grave mistake and that there is no stability without them. 

BIRN and its partners are deeply concerned that the situation is likely to deteriorate further and we therefore expect the European Commission to express concern over these issues in a clear manner and not to leave any room for doubt about what is actually happening in Serbia.“