Category: News and Events

Finalists of the Investigative Journalism Awards 2012

BIRN journalists, Bojana Barlovac and Aleksandar Djordjevic, and two BIRN Summer School participants, Bojana Jovanovic and Stevan Dojcinovic, are finalists for the National Investigative Journalism Award 2012 by the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia.

Bojana Barlovac, a BIRN journalist for Balkan Insight, is nominated for her investigation on the ownership of Serbian national broadcaster TV Avala. Questions regarding the ownership of the station arose when employees of TV Avala were on strike.

BIRN Serbia journalist, Aleksandar Djordjevic,  is nominated for his investigation into irregularities found in the building of indoor swimming pools in Kragujevac.  At the time the article was published, Djordjevic worked for Sumadija Press. All stories can be found at www.sumadijapress.com/index-p146-ni21301-c146.html. 

Bojana Jovanovic and Stevan Dojcnovic, from the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Serbia, CINS, were selected for their story about Zoran Copic. Copic is allegedly the primary liaison between the mafia and businessmen and banks that seek to privatise Serbian companies.

Winners will be announced on Media Freedom Day on May 3, 2012.

The Investigative Journalism Award is organized by the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia and is supported by the US Embassy in Serbia.

BIRN Serbia Trainees Up for Investigative Awards

The Independent association of Journalists in Serbia has announced the nominees for awards for investigative journalism, and BIRN trainees were nominated in all categories: for electronic, print and online media.

Dejan Stojicic, from Novi Sad-based Radio 021, is nominated for best work in electronic media, Nikola Lazic from Vranjske, weekly based in Vranje, is nominated for print media, and Stevan Dojcinovic, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Vladimir Radojevic and Bojana Barlovac for best investigative story published in the online media.

The annual contest is supported by the US embassy in Belgrade and the awards will be announced on May 3 at an event traditionally organized at Faculty of Theatre in Belgrade.

 

Fellowship Introductory Meeting in Vienna

In the course of this year’s Fellowship programme, starting with the introductory meeting on April 25 in Vienna, the ten selected journalists will examine the topic of Communities from different angles.

Over four days, fellows will be introduced to the programme and will receive practical tips from Fellowship programme editors related to their projects, including individually tailored assistance, insight into fact-checking, research planning and methodology, possibilities for online presentation of their stories and using photography in journalism.

 

On these occasions fellows will meet each other as well as BIRN’s regional editorial team, led by Neil Arun, and programme partners.

In addition they will have peer-to-peer exchanges with two previous fellows: Adrian Mogos, who will give a presentation on investigative techniques, and Davor Konjikusic, who will be running the photo workshop.

 

Ten fellows have been chosen to participate in the fourth year of the Fellowship programme and their work, which will start immediately after the seminar with four months of research during which they will travel to neighbouring countries and the EU, exploring different aspects of their projects.

 

Discussion: Serbian arrests of Kosovo citizens

Life in Kosovo this Thursday will discuss the latest arrests conducted by the Serbian state.

Questions covered include: On what grounds are the Serbian police arresting citizens from the Republic of Kosovo? Why and how were officers from Kosovo’s police force arrested by their Serbian counterparts? After these arrests, will the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia continue? How is Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Daciq using these arrests for political advantage within Serbia, at a time when the elections are about to start? How should Kosovo respond politically after this incident?

To discuss these issues and more, Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following guests to the studio:

Anton Quni – an MP from the LDK; 
Ahmet Isufi – an MP from the AAK; 
Florin Krasniqi – MP from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje;
Florian Qehaja – Executive Director, Kosovo Center for Security Studies.

BIRN  will also broadcast a report about the level of transparency shown in Kosovo’s municipalities. To what extent is the Law on Local Self-Government being respected, as well as the Administrative Instructions on Transparency?

Life in Kosovo is broadcast every Thursday at 8:20PM on RTK, and is repeated the following day at noon.

Serbian Journalists Share Highs and Lows of Investigations

Public interests should trump any other concerns, participants at debate on Tuesday in Belgrade agreed

Serbian investigative journalists need to keep in mind the fact that they are serving the public interest, whatever threats they may receive or poor income they may earn. 

This was the conclusion of the “Media Tuesdays” debate held at the Belgrade Faculty for Media and Communication on Tuesday.

The debate gathered some of the best-known journalists from Serbia’s investigative scene, including Irena Stevic and Mirjana Jevtovic from TV B92’s “Insider”, Branko Cecen from CINS (Centre for Investigative Journalism Serbia), Vojislav Tufegdzic from Novi magazin and Bojana Barlovac, of BIRN. The host was the faculty’s lecturer, Sasa Lekovic.

The journalists shared experiences on conducting investigations with journalism students. Tufegdzic, who co-authored the documentary See You in the Obituary, said he regretted that Serbian newsrooms are no longer led by editors but “by managers who often don’t know how to write even a postcard let alone a news piece”.

Irena Stevic explained from her own personal experience the qualitative difference between daily and investigative journalism. “Although I only started doing investigations two years ago, it has grown on me and I would never go back to daily reporting,” she said.

Cecen said the fact that he knows he is doing something that will serve the public interest is what keeps him motivated.

Jevotvic pointed out the dangerous aspect of working on investigative pieces. “Sometimes you need to finish your research and do what is good for the public, and not keep any threats in mind,” Jevtovic said.

Barlovac said it was crucial for investigative journalists to enjoy the absolute support of their employers.

“The most important things are the support of your own organisation – and only publishing material for which you have proofs that could be valid in court,” she said.

Barlovac also presented the Serbian version of BIRN’s guide for investigative journalists, Digging Deeper.

The participants in the 2012 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence have been selected.

Here are their names, listed by country in alphabetical order:

Aleksandra Bogdani, Albania

 

Eldin Hadzovic, Bosnia

 

Dimiter Kenarov, Bulgaria

 

Ana Benacic, Croatia

 

Arbana Xharra, Kosovo

 

Aleksandar Manasiev, Macedonia

 

Saska Cvetkovska, Macedonia

 

Samir Kajosevic, Montenegro

 

Maria–Sorana Stanescu, Romania

 

Miodrag Sovilj, Serbia

 

We would like to congratulate the winners, and to thank all applicants.

 

We would also like to encourage candidates who were not successful to consider applying again next year.

 

Competition for the top ten places was exceptionally high, and the judges were impressed by the overall quality of entries. The International Selection Committee consists of six permanent members from the media community in the Balkans, Austria and Germany, as well as one annual member, who is an expert on this year’s Fellowship theme – communities.

 

This year’s programme consists of two seminars, the international research of fellows’ own reporting project, mentoring and editorial followed by the world-wide promotion and syndication of fellows’ articles.

 

Life in Kosovo discusses public health

This Thursday, “Life in Kosovo” broadcasts the debate regarding the public health situation.

Among the issues raised are the findings and recommendations of BIRN’s annual report, which analyses the health situation in Kosovo.



12 years after the end of the war, why there is still a lack of essential drugs in primary health institutions?
Why is there no cooperation between health service providers in the country? Is there a lack of capacities in the public hospitals, or a mismanagement of capacities? 

If there a timeline, when will the laws on health care and health insurance be approved by the Parliament? How important these two laws are to solve the problems in the field?



To understand more and get professional inputs on the issues, the host Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited:


Curr Gjocaj- director of the Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health;

Haxhi Avdyli- LDK health group;

Time Kadrijaj- parliamentary commission for health, AAK;

Alban Selimi- journalist, BIRN.



Also, BIRN will broadcast the report of journalist Alban Selimi, who shows what the television team has found out at the night when this team has visited some family medicine center.

Life in Kosovo discusses education

This week, Life in Kosovo looks at the situation in Kosovo schools. After visiting several municipalities, journalist Edona Musa reveals, from the field, the state of education and schools in the country.

Have schools been built just for the sake of being built? Why is the director of education in Prizren facing charges regarding the abuse of his official duty?
How much money are education officials demanding from applicants for the post of school director in order to secure the job?

 

What appointments have the municipal Director of Education in Drenas made and who from his family have been employed?

 

BIRN will also broadcast an interview with Valdet Gjinovci, head of Food and Veterinary Agency.
How safe is the foods that we consume? Why have 52 workers been fired from this institution?

 

New website www.gazetajnk.com.

 

Gazeta Jeta në Kosovë is a comprehensive online news portal in Albanian, which includes investigations, analysis, columns and news on Kosovo’s current political, economic, environmental and social affairs.

Second Presentation of Balkan Transitional Justice in Belgrade

On Friday, March 10, Gordana Igric and members of the Balkan Transitional Justice team presented the newly launched programme to representatives from the OSCE, Serbian Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, and the director of the Serbian news agency BETA, Ljubica Markovic.

Gordana Igric, BIRN regional director, introduced the goals of the programme and pointed towards her personal experience with transitional justice issues. “I was a war reporter in the Balkans in the 1990s and I experienced many of the problems we are talking about now first-hand. So this project is personally very close to me and my past,” said Igric.

 

Anisa Suceska-Vekic, the director of BIRN Bosnia and manager of the Transitional Justice project, explained that the idea behind the project was to create a regional initiative of all BIRN offices and correspondents across the region that would participate in tackling post-war issues.

 

The presentation of the project was followed by a discussion among the participants. Ljubica Markovic noted that the project was very useful for BETA, given that the news agency is unable to follow war crimes and similar issues on a regular basis, mainly due to a lack of financial and human resources.

 

She also said that when BETA covers issues concerning war crimes or victims of war in their articles it “always prompts strong reactions among the public”.

 

“Even I sometimes find myself thinking that we have had enough of all these wars and their consequences. But things have to be told in their entirety in order to move on,” Markovic added.

 

Jasna Sarcevic-Jankovic, from the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor in Serbia emphasised a general lack of interest of the younger generations in war crimes.

 

The project’s coordinator, Jessie Hronesova, said that the project’s aims were to reach beyond reporting on war crime trials. “We aim to show the large scale of problems any transitional country is going through, which is not only the transition from wars but also from communism.”

 

Ivan Jovanovic and Jelena Stevancevic, legal advisors on war crimes of the OSCE Mission to Serbia have emphasised how important it is to organize regional initiatives that bring people of various backgrounds together and in this way foster mutual understanding and fight prejudice. “I congratulate you on launching such a project that has a regional dimension,” Jovanovic said.

 

Balkan Transitional Justice is a two-year multi-media project funded by the European Commission and Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, bringing daily news and analyses in English and the regional languages: Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian.

 

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

 

A radio programme will be launched in early May and a series of documentary films will follow in fall 2012.

Presentation for Serbian NGOs about the new programme “Balkan Transitional Justice”

On Wednesday, 7 March, BIRN HUB organized a meeting with Serbian NGOs in order to promote the new regional programme “Balkan Transitional Justice” which focuses on transitional justice issues in the post-Yugoslav region.

The meeting was among others attended by BIRN regional director, Gordan Igric, the programme manager, Anisa Suceska-Vekic, programme editor Andrea Doder and representatives from the Humanitarian Law Center and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

 

The aim of the meetings was to inform local non-governmental organizations about the new programme and establish future partnerships.

 

Natasa Kandic, Jelena Grujic and Natasa Govedarica from the Humanitarian Law Center shared their experience about monitoring war crimes prosecutions in the Balkan region.

 

Natasa Kandic pointed towards several challenges the project will have to address, such as how to present stories that would be balanced, interesting for the audience and at the same time contributing to knowledge about transitional justice.

 

Sonja Biserko from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights stressed the importance of showing contemporary issues in the Balkans within a political and historical context.

 

“Balkan Transitional Justice“ is a regional programme funded by the European Commission and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, whose website as part of Balkan Insight was launched on Monday, 5 March.

 

The aim of the programme is to ensure a timely, impartial and balanced flow of information about issues of transitional justice in the Balkan region, such as war crimes, lustration, reparations, regional cooperation, truth-seeking initiatives, missing persons and refugees, among others.

 

In the first stage, the project consists of online news reports covering local issues related to war crimes and other transitional justice problems. Radio and TV output will follow later in the year.

 

Articles on the website are available in four languages: English, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Albanian, and Macedonian.

 

The Balkan Transitional Justice programme is organizing another presentation tomorrow for representatives of international organizations and the judiciary.

 

As the programme is primarily focused on a local audience, it is planning to hold a series of similar presentations across the region in order to promote its goals and increase public awareness of transitional justice issues.