Category: News and Events

New competition for Balkan Fellowships for Journalistic Excellence opened till March 5, 2012

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) together Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE Foundation, sixth time in a row, opened a call for applications within the program “Balkan Fellowship for journalistic excellence. The topic of the new call is communities and journalists from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia are invited to apply till March 5, 2012.

Applicants are encouraged to consider the annual theme, communities, in a broad sense. Candidates should examine different groupings-political, economic, national, gender, generational – and the relationship between them, external influences and the development of entirely new groups or factions. Candidates should write about the topic not just in the context of their home country, but also in at least one other regional state and within the European Union and should choose phenomena that are relevant, current and original.

 

Fellows are expected to deliver investigative stories of no more than 2,000 words that will inform regional readers about issues that have not been covered by the media before.

 

Remzi Lani, director of the Albanian Media Institute and a member of the program’s selection committee, described the fellowship as “a success story” and “opportunity not to be missed”. “The programme offers a unique opportunity for detailed, in-depth reporting in your country and beyond. At the same time, if offers fellows the opportunity to meet colleagues and industry professionals from across Europe”, says Remzi Lani.

 

Ten applicants selected by an independent committee to take part in the fellowship will receive a €2,000 bursary, up to another €2,000 for travel and research expenses and will attend career development seminars in Vienna and Skopje. In addition, the top three articles, again judged by an independent committee, will attract awards of €4,000, €3,000 and €1,000.

 

In the attachment you may read the recommendation from the 2011 winner, Juliana Koleva from Bulgaria.

 

Detailed information on this year’s theme, application form and guidelines can be found at:

http://fellowship.birn.eu.com/en/fellowship-programme/topic-2012-communities-apply-now.

 

Contact for further information:

 

Dragana Žarković Obradović

Fellowship programme manager, BIRN

 

Email: [email protected]

 

Life in Kosovo discusses the protests on 14 January

Tonight, Life in Kosovo will discuss last weekend’s protests and those that will come later in a brand new studio.

Questions to be covered include: What did the four teams from the Ombudsperson institution see during Vetëvendosje’s (Self Determination) protest at the weekend? Who does the Ombudsperson say started the violence first?

Among the protesters, who began to throw stones at the police? Who will Vetëvendosje fine regarding the violence caused during the protest? Will the government or the police change their approach to managing Vetëvendosje’s next protest, planned for the upcoming weekend? What measures of reciprocity is the government considering?

Is there any institutional approach that Vetëvendosje can or would use to push through the implementation of the motion they desire?

 

Participants in the debate will be:

Mimoza Kusari – Minister of Trade and Industry;
Blerand Stavileci – Minister of Agriculture;
Sami Kurteshi – Ombudsperson;
Shpend Ahmet – from Vetëvendosje; and
Galuk Konjufca – from Vetëvendosje.

Also, journalist Alban Selimi interviewed Nijazi Gashi, director of UCCK (University Clinical Center of Kosovo) on how people convicted for serious crimes were selected for heads of the clinic.

Balkan Transitional Justice

BIRN Hub opened a five-day long training course on journalistic reporting about transitional justice issues in the scope of the newly launched programme Balkan Transitional Justice.

The programme is financed by the European Commission and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

The aim of the training course is to introduce journalists and translators to the topic of transitional justice as a practical field from a journalistic perspective.

 

Gordana Igrić, the regional BIRN director welcomed the newly established Balkan Transitional Justice Journalistic Team by saying that one of the aims of the programme is to contribute to the process of coming to terms with the past.

 

Nerma Jelačić, the Head of the ICTY Outreach Programme, presented the concept of transitional justice based on four pillars: the right to know, the right to justice, the right to reparation, and non-repetition of the past human rights violations.

 

Throughout the week, Jelačić will provide insights into the challenges that journalists face when they cover transitional justice issues.

 

The training also includes presentations by representatives of key BiH judiciaries and experts on transitional justice issues such Jasmina Pjanic, the Head of the Criminal Defence Section of BIH, Liljana Zurovac from the BiH Press Council, and Saša Madacki from the Human Rights Center.

 

The participants will have the opportunity to visit the Court of BiH, follow a war crime trial, and practice how to report about the case they attended.

 

Balkan Transitional Justice is a regional programme that aims to increase a general public understanding of transitional justice in post-Yugoslav countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia) and improve the state of media.

 

The online production in four regional languages (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin, Albanian and Macedonian) and English starts in February 2012, whereby radio and TV output will follow later.

 

Life in Kosovo discusses about drugs registered with fake documents

Tonight Life in Kosovo broadcasts an investigative report by Alban Selimi showing how the medical drugs, bought from Serbia, have been registered with fake documents even though the authorities knew about it.

In addition to the falsified documents problem, the report points to the argument of the danger of using these drugs because, in the absence of the issuing documents, the costumers would not have any address to complain to.

 

Muhamet Hajrullahu has investigated the situation of the waste landfill. Is there any positional risk for citizens’ health as a result of bad management of these landfills?

 

BIRN will broadcast a reportage which shows what kind of property problems some residents of Tërstenik, a village in Drenas, have.

 

The show will also broadcast a TV report by Edona Musa on why Junik municipality does not comply with the court decisions regarding fired workers?

 

It closes with a report drawing on the repatriation process of Kosovo citizens returning from European countries as an effect of Kosovo Government Agreements with EU countries towards visa-liberalization goals.

Life in Kosovo discusses energy

This Thursday, Life in Kosovo goes to South Africa to investigate whether energy supply problems have been solved since a new power plant was built with World Bank loans – in a similar way to the planned New Kosova power plant.

Life in Kosovo travels up to this power plant in northern South Africa to see how this power plant has contributed in improving the citizens’ lives.~

 

Why has there been an increase in electricity prices since construction began on the new power plant in South Africa? 

What does a World Bank’s own Inspection Panel report say about the standards breached by the World Bank in giving credit for the construction of the Eskom power plant in northern South Africa – in a similar form of credit planned for Kosovo?

 

How have citizens from whom the power plant is taking water needed for agriculture responded? What has been lobbied for by the only Kosovar representative in the Conference of the United Nations for climate change in Durban? 

What are the lessons that Kosovo could take from the example of South Africa?

 

Exclusively in Life in Kosovo, these issues will be elaborated by the South African minister of environment and citizens from both Kosovo and South Africa.

Life in Kosovo Broadcasts Roundtable on KEK Privatization

Tonight Life in Kosovo broadcasts a round table organized by representatives of civil society where they discussed the privatization of KEK distribution.

What are the challenges of the privatization in KEK’s distribution?

What is the attitude of Kosovo’s Government, civil society and opposition parties? What are the practices of energy privatization in the region?

 

For this and related issues, the participants in this roundtable were:

 

Naim Hoxha – RIINVEST
Besim Beqaj – Minister of Economic Development
Nezir Sinani – Institute for Development Policy

Visar Kelmendi – energy expert

Fllanza Hoxha – Beqiri, KEDS
Avdullah Hoti – LDK

Shpend Ahmeti – Vetëvendosje movement

Haki Shatri – AAK
Justina Pula – Shiroka, PDK’s MP
Agon Demi – GAP

Haki Abazi – RBF

Krenar Gashi – Institute for Development Policy

 

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.

New BIRN Regional Board Elected

The BIRN Regional Network in Belgrade on November 18 and 19 finalised the process of forming a new BIRN Hub Board. The previous members, directors of local member organisations, have moved to the Steering Committee of the BIRN Hub.

The new board is composed of Tim Judah, author and Balkan correspondent for the Economist, Wolfgang Petritsch, Permanent Representative of Austria to the OECD, Steve Crawshaw, international advocacy director at Amnesty International and Stefan Lehne, former Austrian diplomat and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Europe in Brussels. They will be joined by a BIRN representative chosen on an annual basis by the Steering Committee of the Hub.

The BIRN Hub Board has responsibility for major decisions related to the Network’s strategy, adopts the Director’s annual report and ensures that Network regulation rules are upheld. It will assist the Regional Network Director in designing programmes and other operational matters as opportunities or needs dictate.

The Steering Committee will be composed of representatives of BIRN members of the Network and the Regional Director and will act as a hands-on operational body to ensure that the Network continues to maintain highest standards.

The changes agreed in November will be reflected next year in changes to the BIRN Hub Statute, as well as in the Network regulation rules. Network members see these changes as marking a milestone in the life of BIRN that will contribute to the organization’s further development and prevent potential conflicts of interest.

 

Regional Transitional Justice Project Launched

BIRN Hub has launched a two-year multimedia project called “Regional Transitional Justice”, which is being financed by the Swiss Foreign Ministry and supported also by the European Commission.

The project’s overall goal is to raise awareness of transitional justice issues in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro and so contribute to the process of reconciliation in the region.

A team of journalists will be formed to cover war crime trials and other key issues and their subsequent news, analysis and investigations will be published on Balkan Insight in both English and local languages.

A monthly radio show, Radio Regional Justice Production, will also be produced in local languages using the capacities of BIRN Bosnia’s existing Radio Justice Programme.

The project also includes a TV Regional Justice Production, a TV series comprising six shows, plus a separate TV documentary, which will be produced using the material that the team has collected.

Our expectation is that that this valuable project will have a lasting, positive impact in the region by fostering democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and a sustainable peace.

 

Respect between Media, Judiciary Needed

BIRN BiH, the Association of Court Reporters and Association of Prosecutors of the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina held a workshop for judicial institutions on “Transparency of Judiciary and Responsibility of the Media” in Banja Luka on November 30, 2011.

One of the recommendations and conclusions of the workshop, which was attended by representatives of judicial institutions from Banja Luka area and journalists, was to improve the cooperation in order to enable the media to get access to information for the public more easily and quickly.

Dragica Tojagic, spokesperson of the Special Prosecution from Banja Luka, mentioned the fact that no press conferences were held and no direct contact between prosecutors and the media was established, adding that “the Special Prosecution has not organized any press conferences since 2008 and prosecutors have been persuaded to appear in the media as guest speakers only twice”.

In that sense, Tojagic stressed that it was necessary to initiate seminars for prosecutors, which would focus on the importance of giving information to the public and addressing the public.

Tihomir Jurko, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and member of the Association of Prosecutors of FBiH, stressed the importance of judicial institutions addressing the media, adding that, by doing this, they reduced the risk from “wrong” information being conveyed by the media. Jurko said that all representatives of judicial institutions were obliged by law to offer public information to the media.

During the workshop the media representatives spoke about problems facing them in their cooperation with judicial institutions, specifically mentioning the lack of media advisories or war-crimes trial schedules on courts’ web pages.

Marija Anicic-Zgonjanin, Acting President of the District Court in Banja Luka, mentioned a series of problems in their relations with the media, adding that, despite the fact that the District Court did not have financial resources to recruit a spokesperson, its still had “excellent cooperation with the media”.

Anicic-Zgonjanin said that she was planning to improve her direct contacts with the media, adding that the war-crimes and other trial schedules would be soon available on the Court’s web page.

“There has to be mutual respect between the media and judiciary. When there is such respect, none of the parties will certainly make mistakes,” Anicic-Zgonjanin said.

Media representatives said that journalists had to be trained on court reporting, because they often made mistakes in their reports. They further mentioned sensationalistic titles of objective reports as a problem, pointing out that journalists were not responsible for those titles.

Erna Mackic, Editor of BIRN BiH Justice Report, said that the need for additional training of journalists and editors would be included among the conclusions and recommendations of this workshop.

The Banja Luka workshop is the first in a series of workshops, which will be organized by BIRN BiH in collaboration with the Association of Prosecutors of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within a project focusing on transparency of judiciary and responsibility of the media implemented with support from USAID’s project on Judicial Sector Development – JSDP II.

The aim of the cooperation is to try to improve the cooperation by sharing knowledge and experience at future workshops and discussions between representatives of the media and judicial institutions and have the judicial institutions open themselves towards the public and journalists understand their responsibility.

Annual Plan of Association of Court Reporters

Members of the Association of Reporters from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, cantonal and district courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, AIS, met on November 19 in order to summarize the activities conducted and results achieved during 2011 and make a work plan for next year.

Erna Mackic, AIS Coordinator, made a presentation of AIS’ activities during the past year and results achieved. Mackic said that the removal of indictments from judicial institutions’ web pages was one of the biggest obstacles faced by AIS over the past year.

The meeting participants stressed the problem related to fact that neither the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina not other courts in the country held regular press conferences. The restricted issuance of photographs during the entire course of court proceedings was mentioned as another issue posing limitations on reporting from courts.

Considering the fact that AIS members held a series of workshops and roundtables on transparency of judiciary and responsibility of the media reporting from courts during 2011, they shared their experiences with other AIS members, saying that, at all those workshops judicial representatives demonstrated readiness to cooperate with the media.

On the basis of experiences from those workshops, it was concluded that the lack of transparency of judicial institutions arose from their fear of potential mistakes in publishing the information they offered to the media. In that sense, all AIS members agreed that the dialogue should be continued by all means and that further efforts had to be invested in training journalists on reporting from courts.

When it comes to general cooperation with prosecutors’ offices, the AIS members agreed that they often gave generalized statements to the media, without providing them with any new pieces of information. The participants concluded that, due to this reason, the media turned to other sources of information, which were not always correct and lead to mistakes in their reports.

In AIS members’ opinion, the establishment of public relations services or appointment of spokespersons with judicial institutions will not only improve and facilitate the work of the media, but also improve the work of the judicial institutions, as well as judges and prosecutors as individuals.

The second part of the meeting was dedicated to making a plan of activities for next year. The recommendations and conclusions related to activities to be undertaken next year indicate that there is a need to improve objective reporting from cantonal and district courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was noted that few journalists reported from those courts, which leads to a low level of information among the general public. Therefore, the training of journalists on court reporting should be continued.

In addition, the AIS members concluded that meetings with media editors were needed, because the lack of interest in the work of the judiciary often came as a result of editorial policies.

The AIS Coordinator said that the training of journalists in collaboration with the OSCE office in Serbia, which would include a training of journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia at The Hague, was one of the most important activities.

Over the past two years AIS has had lectures for students at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the Sarajevo University. The experiences derived from those lectures demonstrated that students knew very little or nothing about the work of the judiciary. For this reason, the AIS members concluded that the practice should be continued and that similar lectures should be held not only at the Sarajevo University, but also in other towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, the AIS members agreed that they would hold a total of six lectures for students during 2012.