Category: News and Events

Life in Kosovo discusses problems with coal in Kosovo

Tonight, Life in Kosovo broadcasts the documentary ‘Kingdom of Coal’ and a report on the operation of emergency and fire-fighting services in Kosovo.

The ‘Kingdom of Coal’ is a documentary produced by BIRN and Crossing bridges, which in the most recent International Documentary and Short Film Festival, DOKUFEST, was awarded the best film prize in the category for the environment, GreenDoc.

Competing with other international films dealing with environmental issues, ‘Kingdom of Coal’ was considered by the festival’s international jury to be a significant film for the region. The documentary investigates the economic, health and environmental costs of coal, while exploring the potential for alternative energy in Kosovo.

After the documentary, a report by journalist Alban Selimi will be broadcast, highlighting the work of emergency staff at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo and the treatment of patients from regional hospitals that are sent to them.

Afterwards, journalist Edona Musa will present a report about the problems faced by firefighters in Kosovo.  

The show will close with the ‘Youth in Kosovo’ section.

Life in Kosovo debates about sports betting and discusses the informal dialogue

Life in Kosovo will be broadcasting a debate on the increased occurrence of sports gambling in Kosovo followed by a discussion of young people on the technical dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

Why are so many gambling operators in Kosovo? How is their operation regulated by law? How disturbing is the operation of sports betting places near schools? What rule of law enforcement is in place to ensure stricter control of age groups visiting these shops?

 

To discuss these and related issues to sports betting in Kosovo, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following guests to the studio:

 

Safet Krasniqi, gambling manager from the Tax Administration of Kosovo, TAK;
Edmond Jahjaga, vice president of the Association of Gambling in Kosovo;
Jeta Rexha, psychologist from Gjakova;
Feliks Nikolla, from Youth in Kosovo.

 

As part of the show, BIRN will also be broadcasting the Youth in Kosovo section, where youth will discuss about the sports betting habit of youngsters under the age of 18.

 

Meanwhile, Jeta Xharra has invited youth from Kosovo and Serbia to discuss on the cooperation between youth of these countries and the problems that they face. The invited guests are the following:

 

Krenar Shala, from GAP Institute;

Dusan Kanazir, student in the Law Faculty in Belgrade, who also works for the International War Crimes Tribunal;

Furtuna Sheremeti, student in the Law Faculty in Prishtina and activist from My Initiative (Nisma Ime) NGO;

Maja Micic, director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights inBelgrade;

Enes Toska, architect and leader of the \”Cultural Heritage without Borders” project;

Dragan Momcilovic, student of Political Sciences in Belgrade and coordinator of the debate club.

 

Life in Kosovo interviews Kjartan Bjornsson and Haki Ejupi

Life in Kosovo broadcasts an interview on the spending of EU funds in Kosovo and an interview on smuggled medicine.

Jeta Xharra speaks to the head of operations at the European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo, Kjartan Bjornsson, regarding the management of EU funds by Kosovars.

 

What EU project in Kosovo is Bjornsson most proud of? Has the EU opposed at any point the sale of the power plant Kosovo A?

 

BIRN journalist Alban Selimi interviews the main inspector at the pharmaceutical department of the Kosovo Medicines Agency, Haki Ejupi, on smuggled medicine in the Kosovo market.

 

The show ends with the “Youth in Kosovo” section.

 

EULEX Issues Indictments Against Kosovo Daily

EU’s rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, has today issued criminal indictments against five members of staff at the Pristina-based Infopress newspaper.

The newspaper’s proprietor, Rexhep Hoti, and four members of staff at the paper, together with the mayor of Skenderaj, Sami Lushtaku, have been accused of violating the equal status of residents in Kosovo. If proven, Kosovo’s criminal code stipulates they could face imprisonment from six months to five years.

 

They are also charged with making threats and defamatory comments towards BIRN Kosovo director Jeta Xharra. If proven, these charges carry fines or prison terms of up to six and three months respectively.

For 12 days in late May and early June 2009, “Infopress” is accused of running a hate campaign against BIRN’s Kosovo director Jeta Xharra and BIRN’s “Life in Kosovo” television show.

 

The newspaper alleged without substantiation that Ms Xharra had committed treason and the paper appeared to encourage vigilante action against Ms Xharra. It issued an implicit death threat in a newspaper articlestating: “Jeta has herself chosen not to live a long life”.

 

The campaign followed the broadcast of a two-hour episode of “Life in Kosovo” on 28 May 2009, which reported on problems of freedom of speech in Kosovo. The program also included a feature on how its own camera team had been chased away from the Lushtaku’s Skenderaj municipality at gunpoint while trying to film a report on local governance.

 

In late June 2009, Kosovo’s press council ruled that unsubstantiated allegations made by Lushtaku in the newspaper which claimed that Xharra was a “servant of the Serbian secret police” could pose a “direct physical threat to her and members of her team”.

 

It urged prosecutors and police to investigate Infopress for “possible violations of the criminal code, such as threat, incitement to violence (or even to murder)”.

 

“Infopress” is associated with Kosovo’s ruling PDK party (of which Lushtaku is a member) and has received government advertising revenue during the party’s tenure in government.The only sanction imposed for its behaviour to date has failed: Infopress refused to pay the €1,000 press council fine.

 

In Kosovo, bodies such as the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo (AGPK), the Independent Media Commission and an umbrella group of NGOs reacted in defence of the assailed BIRN journalists.

 

Internationally, organisations such as the Committee for Protection of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International also publicised their concerns and asked Kosovo authorities to take measures to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

Commenting on the indictment today, Xharra said: “It has taken prosecutors two years to act – two years during which Infopress newspaper believed it could act disgracefully and dangerously with impunity and two years during which our judiciary officials privately confessed that they were reluctant to move against it for fear of being targeted themselves.

 

It has also been two years during which our young state’s fabric – specifically its capacity to uphold freedom of speech – was allowed to corrode. EULEX’s action is belated though welcome. Let us hope that it can set a new standard”.

 

Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and articles 40 – 42 of its constitution guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

 

 

Life in Kosovo interviews Besim Beqaj and Ferid Agani

Tonight’s Life in Kosovo show will broadcast interviews with two Kosovo government ministers, a report on the problems faced by the Muslim community in the municipality of Gjakova and the show’s Youth in Kosovo section.

Jeta Xharra interviewed Besim Beqaj, Minister of Economic Development, and asked him about the problems of the energy sector.

 

Why did the Kosovo government decide to close the Ministry of Energy and Mining?

 

Who is responsible at the Ministry of Economic Development for deciding on the use of coal: local or international advisors?

 

This interview will be followed by the airing of journalist Alban Selimi’s interview with Kosovo Health Minister Ferid Agani.

 

What ongoing problems are being faced by the healthcare system? What has happened to the process of appointing a new director of the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, UCCK?

After the interviews, Life in Kosovo airs a report covering the problems of the Muslim community in Gjakova municipality, who are unable to conduct their religious services because of loud noise coming from a nearby disco club.

 

To conclude the show, the Youth in Kosovo section will be broadcast.

Life in Kosovo debates quarrying

Life in Kosovo will broadcast a debate on the operation of quarries in Kosovo.

Questions to be discussed will include: Why does Kosovo have so many quarries? What problems have arisen as a result of quarrying operations? What damage has been caused to the environment by them? Is Kosovo’s cultural heritage endangered by the operation of legal and illegal quarries? What measures should be taken?

 

To discuss these and related issues, Muhamet Hajrullahu will be joined by the following panellists in the studio:

 

Dardan Gashi, Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning;

Ahmet Tmava, head of the Independent Board for Mines and Minerals;

Liburn Aliu, deputy head of the Parliamentary Commission for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Spatial Planning; and

Arsim Vllasaliu, from the Association for Rural Tourism in Novoberdo.

 

As part of the show, BIRN will broadcast a report by Alban Selimi, who will speak about the operation of legal and illegal quarries in Kosovo, and the measures that need to be taken against them.

 

Closing the show, BIRN will broadcast a documentary about how fully the law on smoking is being implemented in Kosovo’s municipalities.

 

Life in Kosovo discusses the security situation in the north

Tonight, Life in Kosovo has invited the representatives of Kosovo’s Government, civil society, the Crisis Group and the Serbian community in the north to discuss the security situation in northern Kosovo.

What is the next strategy of Kosovo’s Government to implement the reciprocity measures in border points 1 and 31? Are there any authorities that may condemn hooligans who burned the border crossings?

 

What is meant by the request to “not get back\” from taking control of customs posts in the north? Should the police activities in the north be followed by an increased campaign of diplomatic pressure on international institutions in Kosovo and Brussels?

 

At the end of the show, BIRN broadcasts the Youth in Kosovo section, on the topic of early childhood development in Kosovo, which has been the subject of a recently published report of UNICEF.

Summer School lecturers: phone hacking case could lead to change

The continued importance of investigative reporting has been brought to the fore thanks to the recent work of Guardian journalist Nick Davies, who exposed the News of the World’s phone hacking practices, prompting public inquiries into the newspaper and its owner, Rupert Murdoch’s New Corporation, as well as the work of the police.

Davies, who will lecture at the upcoming BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting, has been praised for his work and for standing up against Murdoch’s extremely powerful media machine.

According to fellow BIRN Summer School lecturer Sheila Coronel, Director and Professor of Professional Practice at Colombia University’s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, “today we are seeing the unraveling of one of the most powerful global media empires.

The phone hacking scandal has had repercussions not just in the UK, but in the US as well, where Murdoch’s Fox News network lords it over the cable channels. US investigators are now looking into possible violations of US law. The FBI has been asked to investigate whether News Corp subsidiaries hacked phones in the US as well. We may well be seeing the end of the Murdoch era.”

Also speaking about the importance and ramifications of this story, another BIRN Summer School lecturer, Paul Bradshaw, insists: “This is a bigger story than MPs’ expenses, because this is about the system itself, not just its abuse. It is bigger than Wikileaks, because that was about truth and this is about change…”

Bradshaw, best known as the publisher of the Online Journalism Blog and a professor of online journalism in the UK, insists that the cards could fall in any number of ways. “Regulation of the press is obviously the area of most concern: the Press Complaints Commission and the press itself have been heading this way for some time now, so they cannot complain if things change.

Government is making reassuring noises in framing their inquiry into regulation around protecting plurality and independence, but there’s also a suggestion that they are seeking to control the BBC further. Whatever press regulation regime we get is likely to be tougher, however, and may well seek to regulate online journalism more consistently too.”

He continues: “Ownership is the other major area being looked at, with talk of a numerical test being used to proactively ensure individual companies do not dominate the media, rather than intervening only when companies merge or are bought – although this plays in sharp contradiction to policy around local TV, for example, which explicitly talks about relaxing media ownership rules.

“Whatever happens, this is the biggest opportunity to reshape the political landscape that the media operate in – both for those who seek to ensure freedom and diversity of speech and for those who would seek to control the press. Both will be fighting hard for their cause,” concluded Bradshaw.

Opatija awaits budding investigative journalists

The 2011 BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting is fast approaching. Journalists from the Balkans have just four more days, until July 25th to apply and gain a full scholarship, while paying applicants can apply until August 9th for this unique course, to be held in the beautiful Croatian resort of Opatija from August 21st to 27th.

This year’s summer school has already attracted the interest of 60 Balkan-based journalism students and our selection committee – comprising Professor Sheila Coronel of Columbia University, Dragana Nikolic Solomon, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia’s Media Department, and Gordana Igric, BIRN regional director – will select 20 candidates to receive full scholarships.

Trainers at this summer’s school will include some of the world’s leading investigative journalists from the U.S. and Europe, including the Guardian’s Nick Davies, who single-handedly led the phone hacking investigation against the News of The World, Paul Bradshaw, a leading UK-based blogger and journalist, Sheila Coronel, head of Toni Stabile Center of Investigative Journalism at Columbia University and many others. You can access information on all trainers and panellists, as well as the school’s full agenda, via our web page.

BIRN is still calling on mid-career journalists who are seeking to improve their investigative techniques at the Summer School. Applications for those requiring scholarships can be submitted until midnight of July 25th here.

Lack of progress in Serbia

The Serbian people would probably enjoy better health and education systems if funds from the national budget were allocated more rationally, according to research carried out under the title “Analysis of the Appropriateness of Public Policy in Serbia”.

The research, carried out by ProConcept and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, records a positive trend in the improvement of education and health services since 2000. However, this improvement is not sufficient for people to express satisfaction with the services.

The project’s authors concluded that complete modernisation and public sector reform could only be carried successfully if people were involved in planning and developing the system and if clear public policy objectives were determined.

When it comes to the health system, the research identifies progress in the field of preventive medicine and supply work with patients, says BIRN contributor Sasa Randjelovic.

According to him, patients and health care staff see the key problems as administration, long waiting times for specialist examinations and diagnoses, as well as insufficient time available for review.

Explaining that Serbia currently allocates 5.7 per cent of GDP to health care, Randjelovic adds that the state should change the funding of health care and the structure of employees in health institutions.

“The analysis shows that employees in the health system offer modest support for the reforms carried out and that more than half of respondents believe the state has the greatest benefit from health care reforms,” notes Randjelovic.

According to the research, the education system proved relatively ineffective at training to solve practical problems, networking and the application of knowledge to analyse and develop students’ motivation.

The results show that students’ parents and teachers agree that the biggest shortcoming of the education system is that youngsters are not taught how to apply their acquired knowledge in work processes.

The results’ presentation and following debate were also attended by Gordana Comic, vice president of the Serbian Parliament, as well as representatives of parliamentary committees and experts.

The aim of the research was to determine how funds from the state budget would lead to improved health and education services and whether people recognize the success of public policies in these sectors.

The survey was carried out for the second year running on a sample of 1,198 individuals in 15 towns and cities across Serbia. The survey is part of BIRN’s “Eye on Public Finances” project.

“Eye on Public Finances” is realised by ProConcept and BIRN Serbia, with the support of the British Embassy in Serbia. Ipsos, a strategic market research agency, participated in the creation of the sample by defining the questionnaire and statistical analysis.