Category: News and Events

New BIRN Board Meets in Belgrade

After the election of new Board members in November 2011, BIRN’s new Board and Steering Committee met for the first time in Belgrade from July 6 to July 8.

The new board is composed of Tim Judah, author and Balkan correspondent for the Economist, Wolfgang Petritsch, Austria’s Permanent Representative to the OECD, Steve Crawshaw, international advocacy director at Amnesty International, Stefan Lehne, former Austrian diplomat and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Europe in Brussels, and Per Bymon.

Previously head of Humanitarian Assistance in the Swedish SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency), he is now secretary general of Swedish Radio and Television’s humanitarian foundation, Radiohjälpen.

Ana Petruseva, representative of BIRN members, previously a long-time president of the board, also now joins the board.

The Board was presented with BIRN’s organisational structure, its on-going charitable and commercial programmes, and the organisation’s current success as well as plans for the future.

BIRN’s Statute was put before the members for consideration and, following further input from the team, will be finalised by the end of September.

“It was important for Board members to understand the depth and breadth of what BIRN is, and also to see that each of the local BIRNs can do different things,” Judah, the president of BIRN’s Board, said.

“It was also helpful for people from the local BIRNs to get together and understand what everyone else is doing and share experiences, as well as discuss how to exploit the network’s strength for their mutual benefit,” he added.

BIRN’s staff used the opportunity of the meeting to vote for a new visual identity for the whole organisation, as well as on the new layout of the organisation’s website.

The new visual identity and website will be implemented by the end of the year.

Local BIRN Directors concluded that an internal exchange of personnel should be put into practice, so that BIRN staff members can become better acquainted with their colleagues’ work.

It was also decided that in 2013, the next BIRN annual meeting should be held for the whole organisation.

Balkan Transitional Justice a Hit on Facebook

In only three months, Balkan Transitional Justice (BTJ), a regional initiative of BIRN HUB, has acquired over 6,500 Facebook fans across four different pages.

BTJ aims to inform the public about progress made in overcoming the violent past by addressing topics of regional reconciliation. Balkan Transitional Justice has four fan pages on Facebook – in English (Balkan Insight’s Transitional Justice), BCMS (Balkanska tranziciona pravda), Albanian (Drejtësia Tranzicionale në Ballkan), and Macedonian (Балканска транзициска правда).

The most popular of the four has been the joint Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian fan page with nearly 2,000 fans.

The Albanian fan page was launched in May and 1,545 people have already “liked” it. Both the English and the Macedonian versions have nearly 1,500 fans.

The publication of daily news and analyses by the regional BTJ team began in March 2012 and is composed of six journalists, three translators, and proofreaders. Since then, the BTJ website has published over 700 original articles in English that were translated into Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian, Albanian, and Macedonian.

The BTJ archives currently contain over 2,800 news pieces, analyses, interviews, profiles and background stories in English and the languages spoken in the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenian.

The success of the BJT project on Facebook demonstrates that issues of transitional justice are of great concern and interest to the local public.

Special Projects Editor for the Guardian Paul Lewis to teach at Summer School

Paul Lewis runs teams of journalists at the Guardian newspaper working on a range of investigations. He recently led Reading the Riots, a major research project into the causes and consequences of the England riots.

He was named Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards 2010 and won the 2009 Bevins Prize for outstanding investigative journalism for his stories about the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests.

In 2012 Paul was nominated for both Reporter of the Year and the Orwell Prize for Journalism.

Paul lectures across Europe about the use of social media in journalism and teaches a masterclass in investigative reporting.

At BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting he will teach a workshop on how to find sources and how to get people to share information they have.

BIRN at 4M Conference

BIRN’s Slobodan Georgiev participates in the 4M Conference in the French town of Montpellier as the only journalist from Serbia.

The 4M (Montpellier, Mediterranean, Media, Mutations) conference, sponsored by the Canal France International,  is devoted to new media and journalism, with special emphasis on reporting the elections and revolutions that have shaken the Arab world last summer.
Given that 2011 was marked by the Arab Spring, and 2012 by elections that were held or will take place in Russia, USA, France, Tunisia, Egypt and Greece, the theme of the conference in Montpellier is “E- politics: after the Revolutions, the elections.”

Over one hundred bloggers and journalists from online and print press, and audiovisual platforms from around the world will discuss the impact of media on elections and the role of internet in democratic changes.  Discussion threads are „Is the internet a new maker of kings?”, “From citizen journalism to professional journalism: the keys of change? “ and  «Investigating on the web: an asset or a constraint?”.

As the only journalist from Serbia,  Slobodan Georgiev participated on the panel “The Internet is a new kingmaker”, together with colleagues from the United States, Senegal and Egypt.

Slobodan Georgiev is Serbian journalist, coordinator of projects in the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and administrator of “5 dimes for the media”, a Facebook group which was active in shaping public discussion on internet during the recent elections in Serbia.

Jeta Xharra at the Oslo Freedom Forum 2012

Between May 7-9, 2012, Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo Country Director, attended the 2012 Oslo Freedom Forum as one of the speakers.

Xharra was one of 36 speakers at the forum.  She gave a presentation entitled “On Air and Under Attack in Kosovo” was about journalism during peacetime and how it can as challenging as journalism during wartime.

She recalled her work during the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s.

“The media was basically aiding the killings, and de-humanizing the enemy…The war time reporting was worth risking my life and getting occasionally arrested by the Serbian authorities,” Xharra explained.

Xharra’s journalistic career continued following the war. 

“I thought things would get boring after the war. It was a time of peace after all…What happened next was that these freedom fighters transformed into politicians, a fascinating transformation to have witnessed as a local journalist. 

“In post-war Kosovo, our job as journalists was to make politicians accountable to their public. A piece of cake, I thought. A piece of cake compared to war-zone coverage,” Xharra said.

Xharra described the effects of one of her media products, the current affairs show “Life in Kosovo.”

“It became the first of its kind to broadcast debates, such as those held in every town in Kosovo during the municipal elections. The municipal mayor would declare his promises and a year later the tape would be played back to him.”

“This is when things started to get messy…some of these mayors were former freedom fighters and we challenged them all despite their war credentials. They started using their intimidation tactics by physically threatening me and my team and eventually it led to a 12 day campaign of government tabloids which labelled my team and me as traitors and Serbian spies,” Xharra said.

Xharra defined three lessons that she learned.  First, reporting during peacetime can be as difficult as reporting during wartime.  Secondly, freedom of speech is not cheap and lastly, form international allies.  Xharra concluded her speech by stating that journalists face a never-ending war for the freedom of speech.

The Oslo Freedom Forum is an annual event that started in 2009 to bring humanitarian issues to the top of the global agenda, highlight the stories of human rights advocates an encourage the exchange of ideas.

This year it has brought together and enabled a platform to exchange experiences with some of the most notable and inspiring speakers, including Ahmed Benchemsi, a Moroccan journalist and media entrepreneur, Scott Carpenter, principle at Google Ideas, Nick Cohen, British journalist, author and political commentator, Naomi Natale, installation artist and social activist, Julia Ormond, an Emmy award-winning stage, film and television actress.

A link to Jeta Xharra’s presentation: http://www.oslofreedomforum.com/speakers/jeta-xharra.html

Culture Watch Award Announced

The Balkan Initiative for Cultural Cooperation Exchange and Development, BICCED, funded by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans, is announcing the launch of the first Culture Watch Award.

Journalists from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia are encouraged to submit stories on any issue related to cultural policy and management published between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2012. Applications must be received no later than September 30, 2012 through the online application form.

Newspaper, online, television or radio journalists from these countries are expected to submit one serious, investigative and analytical article together with their professional CVs and details of the article’s subsequent impact.

For detailed information on eligibility for the Culture Watch Award, application and the selection procedure, please read the full Guidelines before completing the Application Form, available here.

The total prize money is 3,700 Swiss Franks (CHF) less applicable taxes under the law in Bosnia and Herzegovina; this will be divided among the three winners as follows:

 

First prize: 2,000 CHF

 

Second prize: 1,200 CHF

 

Third prize: 500 CHF

 

The evaluation board may decide not to award a first prize and instead allocate more second or third prizes depending on the quality of submitted articles.

 

Over the three years of the BICCED project, more than 30 journalists from Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo have obtained new skills in reporting on policy and management in the area of culture in the region.

 

The Culture Watch Award is the next step in strengthening analytical and investigative approaches to reporting on cultural policy.

 

Applications will be evaluated by a jury comprised of six experts on cultural policy in the region and one internationally awarded journalist.

 

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in the second half of November 2012.

 

All interested candidates can apply through online application form, or ask additional question by sending an email to [email protected].

 

BIRN Serbia presented initial research results during the Election Night event in the Media Center

The overall picture of the Serbia 2012 elections was one of disappointed citizens, tired of a long election campaign that offered only modest political change, BIRN Serbia monitoring has revealed. Initial results of the monitoring research were presented last night during the Election Night events organized by the Belgrade Media Center.

Monitoring is part of the BIRN Serbia project “Performance evaluation: steps towards political accountability”, which is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.

The focus of the electoral monitoring activity was the messaging and main policy points of each of the political parties, as regards the top priorities of citizens – the economy, the fight against corruption, health care services, and education.

The economy, and in particularly new investment, employment policies and new agricultural policies were, by far, the primary focus of this campaign. Other topics were less visible during the campaign – corruption was mostly debated in relation to reducing party monopolies controlling state enterprises and funds, while health and education were only sporadically mentioned.

The political parties offered realistic policies regarding the top political issues, but failed to explain adequately how their reforms would be implemented during the next Government mandate, monitoring results show. BIRN Serbia will continue to monitor the politicians’ performance, to ensure that they fulfill their electoral promises.

A more detailed report will be released to the public after the first 100 days of the new government. The main goal of the report, and of the entire monitoring project, is to help tackle one of the most significant problems of political life – a lack of governmental/politicians’ accountability.

More information is available at https://birn.eu.com/en/1/20/35022/

 

Journalists chart course at Vienna meeting

The 2012 fellowship has got underway with a seminar in Vienna, where the reporters worked with a team of editors to fine-tune their proposals.

In the introductory session on April 26, the journalists discussed their ideas and the challenges they faced in their work. The afternoon was spent in a discussion about reporting techniques, conducted by Neil Arun, the fellowship’s international editor, and Gordana Igric, the editor-in-chief of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).

 

The second day was taken up by a series of 90-minute meetings in which the reporters took turns to hone their story ideas with a team of editors from BIRN. Those who were not involved in the sessions spent the morning at the offices of Der Standard, receiving an insight into the editorial processes that shape the leading Austrian newspaper.

 

During the afternoon seminar, BIRN local editors revealed their techniques for avoiding the common pitfalls for investigative journalists in the region. Davor Konjikusic, a fellowship alumnus, also gave the reporters his tips for taking strong pictures to accompany their stories.

 

On the third and final day, further one-on-one editorial sessions were held for the reporters. The rest of the team spent the morning on the streets of Vienna, testing out some newly acquired photography skills.

 

In the afternoon, Romanian investigative journalist and fellowship alumnus Adrian Mogos spoke to the reporters about the risks of going undercover. Lawrence Marzouk, BIRN’s Kosovo editor, also shared his insights into gathering sensitive material from documents and public records.

 

At a concluding meeting that evening, the reporters discussed how they would tackle their stories in light of what they had learnt in Vienna.

 

Radio Launch: Regional Transitional Justice

Balkan Investigative Reporting Regional Network (BIRN) is launching a new monthly regional radio programme about transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia, titled Putevi pravde in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian, Rrugët e Drejtësisë in Albanian and По патот на правдата in Macedonian [Paths of Justice in English].

The monthly 10-minute-long radio programme is available for rebroadcast in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Albanian, and Macedonian every first Monday of the month. It is available online free of charge and it is sent out to over 800 radio stations in the former Yugoslav countries and abroad.

 

The radio programme focuses on the most up-to-date news and information on issues such as war crime trials, criminal justice efforts and regional co-operation and much more.

 

The first programme addresses the current inter-ethnic tensions in Macedonia. It also features prominent figures of Anti-Fascists organizations in the former Yugoslavia and their views on the proposed rehabilitation of Draza Mihailovic, the WW2 Chetnik leader.

 

It also examines why Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are still far off from signing a protocol about the cooperation of their Prosecutor’s offices.

 

In the last part, you can listen to what the citizens in the former Yugoslav countries think about coming to terms with the past in the region.

 

The radio programme is a free-of-charge product of BIRN as part of the newly launched regional project Balkan Transitional Justice, a two-year multi-media project funded by the European Union and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

 

The aim of the project is to improve the general public knowledge about transitional justice and contribute to the difficult process of coming to terms with the Balkan violent past.

 

It consists of a team of six journalists and a language team that bring daily news and analyses on transitional justice topics in the regional languages: Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Macedonian and in English.

 

The project’s website was official launched as part of Balkan Insight on March 5, 2012.

 

BIRN Serbia Starts Monitoring Election Campaign

BIRN Serbia team has commenced a two-week monitoring exercise of the May 6 election campaign, with the aim of establishing an efficient and innovative tool for monitoring any future government’s performance and accountability.

This project is designed to tackle one of the most pressing issues of Serbian political life – lack of politicians’ accountability.

In anticipation of the outcomes of the 2012 general elections, BIRN Serbia is conducting comparative monitoring of political parties’ statements, actions and policies featured during the campaign along with analysis of political party programs.

This will provide a foundation for the future monitoring of the new government’s accountability and also solid evidence on which to judge politicians and political parties compliance with the promises given in the election.

Monitoring will focus on campaign messages related to four topics identified as crucial for the public: the economy and quality of life; corruption; health; education.

BIRN Serbia is working on this project in cooperation with the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, CESID, which has conducted analysis of the political parties’ programs and in-depth interviews with political parties’ representatives.

These analyses, along with analysis of the campaign messages conducted by BIRN Serbia, will be the main sources of information in creating the monitoring tool.

Final results of the monitoring will be presented on the occasion of the 100th day in office of the new government, an event that traditionally marks the first milestone in checking the performance of a new administration.