Category: News and Events

EXCLUSIVE: Life in Kosovo interviews American ambassador Dell and former president Sejdiu

This Thursday at 9pm, Life in Kosovo transmits an exclusive interview with the American Ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell and recently resigned President of the Republic of Kosovo, Dr Fatmir Sejdiu.

Has the president been stabbed in the back by the decision of the constitutional court or is this part of the normal democratic process?

How will this impact the PDK-LDK coalition?

Will early elections be held?

Will we have hurried elections during this year, or will we wait until spring?

What are Shpend Ahmeti and Albin Kurti offering as new political options for the Kosovar voter?

Life in Kosovo, Thursday at 9pm, will be rebroadcast the following day at midday. You can watch Life in Kosovo shows online at http://www.jetanekosove.com

BIRN Serbia and RTS TV co-production on Presevo

BIRN Serbia and Radio Televesion Serbia`s TV magazine programme “Oko”  started a production of documentary on life Presevo this week, as part of a project supported by British embassy in Belgrade.

This small town in south Serbia with an ethnic Albanian majority, is close to the border with Kosovo and Macedonia. Although the  pan European Corridor 10 passes close by Presevo, the town has remained largely out of the public eye and struggles with tough social and economic problems.

BIRN initiated the production of documentary in order to bring the experiences of local Albanians and Serbs, to a wider Serbian audience.

During three days of filming the team interviewed local political leaders and the  people of Presevo in search of a story about the every-day life in this part of Serbia, burdened as it is with a heritage of war and inter ethnic conflict which it is still coming to terms with.

The feature will be broadcast by the end of September.

Life in Kosovo investigates the types of food that are consumed in Kosovo

This Thursday, Life in Kosovo will discuss the type of foods that are consumed in Kosovo and will also broadcast two investigative reports that show mismanagement in Kosovo’s institutions.

The documentary “The new food in the new place” prepared by the journalist Jeta Xharra analyses the effect on the human metabolism of salamis, chips and other manufactured foods.

How healthy are food products in Kosovo? What are the real ingredients in salamis, chips and other manufactured products? The documentary also presents an analysis of food products from the USA and what the doctors say about becoming overweight?

BIRN will also broadcast an investigative report by the journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu, explaining tender irregularities in the Ministry of Public Administration on the managing of vehicle expenses by satellite.

Why was the tender cancelled then reinstated? What are the arguments between all parties  involved in this tender?

During the show, BIRN will also broadcast another investigative report by journalist Edona Musa, who looks at the laboratory of Family Medical Centre in Vushtrri.

How are the analyses done in this laboratory and who does them? Based on which criteria are patients referred for laboratory analysis?

Investigative Journalism Organisations Agree Common Plans

Representatives of all investigative journalism organsations active in the Balkan agreed to put together a co-ordinated  programme of training programmes, conferences, meetings and activities. Additionally,the agreed to collaborate on investigative reports and to organise a Donors conference.

Meeting at the BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Novi Sad, representatives from investigative centres in Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Serbia, along with those from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, the South East European Media Organisation,SEEMO, the International Research and Exchanges Board, IREX in Serbia and BIRN agreed on the need to enhance co-operation and to discuss ongoing projects to ensure that their activities were efficiently targeted.

 

A committee composed of Drew Sullivan from the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paul Radu  director of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project,OCCRP, Gordana Igric BIRN’s regional director, Dragana Nikolic Solomon, head of the media department at the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Henrik Kaufholz from SCOOP an organsation supporting investigative journalists in South East Europe co-ordinate plans for a Donor conference.

Life in Kosovo debates the state of rivers in Kosovo

Caution: Because of the live broadcast from the United Nations on RTK last night, the regular airing time of Life in Kosovo show for this week was postponed for tonight, Friday on 20.10.

While all countries are investing millions of euros in protecting the environment, Kosovo still doesn’t have a clear strategy in protecting rivers and lakes from depletion.

Which is the most polluted river in Kosovo? Who is polluting the rivers and lakes of Kosovo? Could this situation have been prevented? What steps is the Ministry of Environment taking? How concerned are
MPs about water pollution? Why are licences issued to quarrying companies, although they are known
to be one of the main polluters of rivers? Who is responsible for the level of pollution in rivers? How should this situation be managed?

To discuss the state of rivers in Kosovo, Muhamet Hajrullahu will be joined by the following guests:

 

Naser Bajraktari, head of the Department for Waters in the Ministry of Environment and Spatial
Planning
Azem Rexhaj, executive director of the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals
Naser Rugova, head of the Commission for Agriculture and Environment in the Assembly of Kosovo, and
Rexhep Shehu, author of the show Fisherman’s Diary in Kohavision and member of the Fishermen’s
Association.

BIRN will also broadcast two TV reports prepared by researchers. Faton Ademi looks at the state of the
river in the Shipashnica village in Kamenica municipality, which is being depleted.

 

Meanwhile, Petrit Kryeziu reveals the complaints of citizens of Gjakova and Suhareka municipalities who are worried about sewage entering their rivers.

 

Participants on BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting

Here is what participants of the first BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting have said about the school:

Frederique Petit, The Netherlands

The lectures have taught us a lot on how you can do your job better. I find the classes a great motivator that has already given me a lot of tools. Now, I am constantly thinking of new stories that I can get into in the Netherlands.

Sebastjan Pikl, Slovenia

Even though I am not a journalist by profession (I run a political foundation), I find tools which are used, or taught here, really useful in my work. All these in depth analysis and examples which were given here will definitively make my job, or make my days easier and I’ll definitively come back next time.

Andrea Caprescu, Romania

It was a little bit hard for me as I am not an investigative reporter, so when I came here I said “God, I’m gonna have trouble because I know nothing about this. What am I gonna do?”. But, when I met so many great people and when I saw how things are working I was very relieved and very glad that I have the opportunity to learn so many things about journalism.

Vladimir Locev, Macedonia

I saw it as a great opportunity to meet the colleagues from other countries, who are doing things I am doing in my country and this is what investigative journalism is. I have been also taking the Computer Assisted Reporting class, and was very surprised that we, journalists, basically, know very little about Internet and ways how to inquire information through internet. So, the class about the hidden web yesterday, was really great… I didn’t have no idea that those things exist on the web.

Vlad Ursulean, Romania

I really did not know what to expect [from the school], but it’s been really great because you don’t really learn these things in regular schools. So, it was very useful!

Vacusta Bogdan, Romania

I am very interested in developing my skills in order to do what Paul Radu said – to follow the money. There are a lot of companies dealing with very strange transactions, the connections with politicians, and so on, and it is quite difficult sometimes to get the right point and to discover the right information between companies, between different individuals, between different persons and extract the final report and analyse or finalise your report.

Goodbye to BIRN Summer School 2010

With the sounds of guitars and the consummation of traditional Serbian dishes on a balcony in the Petrovaradin fortress in the town of Novi Sad, the BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting has officially ended.

After participants in the BIRN summer school received certificates for their attendance, they moved to a hotel’s balcony, with a view of the Danube River, to have dinner.

To the surprise of all those present, one of the trainers, Mark Lee Hunter, took out his guitar and started playing while another trainer, Drew Sullivan, joined sang along with him.

The duo warmed up the atmosphere, enabling the participants to continue having good time in the city’s downtown.

Despite staying up late, none of them missed the next morning’s hiking tour of the nearby Fruska Gora mountain and visits to monasteries.

Afterwards, some decided to stay on for a couple of days while the rest said goodbye to each other.
The goodbye was only until the next year’s BIRN summer school, they said.

Helen Darbishire: How to Use FOI Laws

Access to freedom-of-information laws is a key way for investigative journalists to unearth stories, a human rights professional Helen Darbishire has told reporters attending BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting.

With more than 80 countries in the world with access-to-information laws, the right can be used to gather material and write better and more exciting stories, Darbishire, the Executive Director of Access Info Europe, told a group at the school in Novi Sad.
“Human rights mean that you have a right to ask for any government records, in any country,” she said.
“You just write a very simple letter, you mention the name of the law and you ask for the document with information you are looking for,” Helen explains.
There was a case in Britain of the expenses scandal of the members of Parliament. “It was a fantastic news story and it all started with an access of information request,” Darbishire said.
She has also presented a legal leaks toolkit, available online, aimed at helping journalists to file request s for information. 

Mark Lee Hunter: Investigative Story is Dead Without Emotion

Investigative journalists don’t have to cut emotion out of their story as the story is dead without emotions, journalist and trainer Mark Lee Hunter told reporters attending BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting.

He explained this by saying that world is garbage and that is on journalists to clear it up, a little bit at least. 
“We are not going to do that if nobody cares. If we want it to care, we have to give them some emotion. This is the way it makes me want to do the job,” Hunter explains. 
It is believed that investigative reporting takes too long and is too expensive. Hunter, however, believes it is true but it doesn’t always have to be true. “One of the reasons for that belief is because we work in inefficient ways… Our processes are terrible, we do not have professional processes for the most part but personal ones. So it is very hard to go faster,” he said.
Pointing at some methods the journalists should develop in order to do their job faster, Hunter added: “I promise that if you develop personal method and you are conscious about reproving it, you will also go faster. 
He has also talked about using hypothesis and chronologies to frame and advance a project.
“Journalists make chronologies all the time and every time you get a piece of information, you add it to the chronology,” he said.
According to him, the chronology can help journalists in two ways:
1. It keeps track of all journalist’s information, it keeps all the stuff together.
2. It suggests relationships between the facts, what to look for next.

Nick Thorne’s Art of Interview at BIRN Summer School

Addressing participants of the BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting, BBC journalist Nick Thorpe has explained the techniques for making people talk and how to work with anonymous sources.

Under the name The Art of the Interview, Thorpe has played a TV documentary he had done entitled Kosovo Civilians Abuses Revealed and then discussed it with the participants.
“We talked how I went investigation and evidence I was able to get for that as well as about the two follow-ups I made afterwards,” Nick explains.
“The more emphasis on good quality reporting and the more emphasis on good investigative journalism, the better, as far as I can tell,” he pointed out.
Screening of the documentary has raised various questions among participants with some claiming that the story did not bring anything that wasn’t already known in public. Thorpe on the other side has insisted on saying that sometimes stories are much bigger than a journalist can tell and that some things cannot be proved. The journalist can only get to the stadium to believe that it was true, he added. 
Final version of his story has been reviewed and confirmed by BBC’s lawyer team.