News and Events Archives - Page 228 of 264

TV Justice Doubles its Ratings on State Television

According to TV ratings data, three months after the TV Justice show was first broadcast, its ratings on Radio and Television Bosnia and Herzegovina, RTVBiH, have doubled.

TV Justice is a 30-minute monthly magazine produced by BIRN journalists and FLASH Production team members. The show has been broadcast by RTVBiH and more than 15 independent TV stations via local and satellite channels since January 4.

In addition to reports on the work of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are regularly produced by BIRN, TV Justice has featured a report on Foca Prison and an interview with Gojko Jankovic, who is serving a 34-year sentence for crimes committed in Foca municipality.

In the second issue we reminded our viewers of the anniversary of the massacre at Markale market place in Sarajevo in 1994. The third issue of TV Justice covered the continuation of the trial of Radovan Karadzic before the Hague Tribunal.

In addition, the show has hosted Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Barasin, Chief Prosecutor with the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Patrick Robinson, President of the Hague Tribunal.

TV Justice is available on BIRN’s web page (www.bim.ba) with English subtitles, making it accessible to BiH citizens living abroad as well as foreigners interested in war-crimes trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The production of TV Justice magazine is generously supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office via the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Sarajevo, the Swiss Federal Office for Foreign Affairs, and the National Endowment for Democracy.

For additional information on TV Justice magazine please contact us by e-mail at [email protected]

Training of Journalists from Local Communities Begins

The Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in collaboration with USAID’s Judicial Sector Development Programme, has begun a four-month training course for 30 journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina reporting on war-crimes trials conducted before cantonal and district courts.

At the first training session, held on March 30 and 31, journalists had a chance to familiarize themselves with the work of the State Court and its Prosecution and to learn the importance of respecting fundamental journalistic principles in writing trial reports.

Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that from the very beginning of the work on war-crimes cases State Court judges have been aware of the influence of the media and the importance of presenting correct information, because this “contributes to building general trust in society”.

“Trials are misused in everyday political disputes,” Kreso said. “In order to avoid this, we have to convey correct information. This is why the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has opened itself to all media outlets.”

Selma Hadzic of the State Court Public Relations Section explained the organizational structure of the Court and court proceedings, citing major war-crimes trials that have been completed before the Court.

Local community journalists visited the premises of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to courtrooms, they had an opportunity to visit the Witness Support Section. Representatives of the Section spoke about its work at the training session, explaining that the Section offers support to vulnerable and protected witnesses.

Zlatko Knezevic, a member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, explained the process of selecting judges and prosecutors working with judicial institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Vesna Budimir, Chief of the War Crimes Section with the State Prosecution, briefed journalists on the problems prosecutors face, stressing the need for better cooperation with the media.

“Journalists can criticize us when we make a mistake or do something that is not consistent with our responsibilities, but the criticism should be based on evidence,” Budimir said.

The training of journalists will continue on April 27 and 28, 2010, when practical details will be tackled – ways of court reporting, possibilities for obtaining information, most frequent mistakes and rules that have to be followed in court reporting.

The goal of the course is to train journalists in reporting on war-crimes trials conducted before courts in their local communities, as the transfer of “less sensitive cases” for further processing by cantonal and district courts as well as Brcko District Court has begun.

At the upcoming training sessions journalists will be given an opportunity to develop court reporting skills aligned with international and domestic codices and become certified court reporters in their media outlets.

Balkan Fellowship 2010 Results

We are very pleased to announce the names of the ten journalists selected for the 2010 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. This year’s competition was very tight as proposals received depicted the most interesting taboo issues throughout the Balkans. The Selection Committee has chosen the ten most exciting, interesting and relevant proposals from the 150 ideas submitted by journalists from across the region.

The chosen journalists are:

Ervin Qafmolla from Albania
Mila Popova from Bulgaria
Doroteya Nicolova from Bulgaria
Robert Tomic from Croatia
Jeton Musliu from Kosovo
Majlinda Aliu from Kosovo
Ruzica Fotinovska from Macedonia
Mircea Opris from Romania
Georgiana Ilie from Romania
Ivan Angelovski from Serbia

These journalists will now become members of a growing network for journalistic excellence in the Balkans, receiving the mentoring of internationally recognized experts during their own research in order to produce the best in-depth articles with the possibility of world wide promotion and syndication. The initial phase includes an intensive programme of training, research and reporting, beginning with a week-long seminar in Berlin on April 27^th and culminating in an awards ceremony at the end of the year in Vienna.

Updates on the fellows’ progress will be posted on the site regularly.

BIRN Attends ICMP Meeting

BIRN Justice Report journalist Merima Husejnovic attended a meeting in Tuzla with representatives of associations of missing persons’ families from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons.

Almost 40 representatives of non-governmental organizations and associations of missing persons’ families gathered in Tuzla on March 22 and 23, 2010, with the aim of receiving information about the ICMP’s work and reviewing possibilities for mutual cooperation.

Meeting participants visited the Identification and Coordination Center, ICD, and Podrinje Identification Project, PIP, location, where they were briefed on the process and results of the ICMP’s long-term work on finding missing people.

At this meeting, representatives of missing people’s families conveyed critical comments on the work of Bosnian authorities, whom they accuse of neglecting their needs over a period of years.

“If we have been talking about the issue for 18 years and nobody is listening, it may be time to stop talking. There is obviously some problem in relations between the associations and the Government,” Fatima Fazlic, President of “Izvor” Association from Prijedor, said.

Participants criticized the fact that the Law on Missing People of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted at the end of 2004, is not being implemented. All the participants acknowledged that this meeting was the first in a series of meetings and it “scratched the surface of the problem that have faced families of missing people for years”.

“All meetings and conferences conclusions are identical. Nothing has been implemented year after year. This is an attempt to try to make some changes by establishing a partnership between non-governmental organizations and associations,” Klaudija Kuljuh, ICMP Coordinator for the Western Balkans, said.

Merima Husejnovic presented BIRN’s long established reporting on war crimes, which would not be possible without cooperation with associations of victims’ families from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She said she hoped this cooperation would continue.

Belgrade meeting as a part of BICCED

Outdated laws in the field of culture, delays in adopting new legislation a lack of transparency, insufficient budget for cultural activity, partitocracy in cultural institutions – election of leaders based on political affiliation rather than expertise, a lack of tax benefits for investment in culture, poor regulations of the art market, vague criteria for the award of funds finance in ‘open competition’, a lack of long term financing for projects and institutions, marginalisation of productions in the independent cultural scene. These were the key problems identified at an informal meeting on February 22nd, with representatives of a dozen of cultural institutions and organisations from Belgrade. The meeting was hosted by BIRN as part of the BICCED project (Balkan’s Initiative for Cultural Cooperation, Exchange and Development), which is supported by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans.

Participants also pointed out the division amongst key cultural organisations and opinion-formers, making joint activity or collective pressure on government and funding bodies almost impossible, and the chronic lack of interest from the media in culture in general and the problems faced by cultural organisations.

Among the participants were Aleksandar Lazarevic from the Centre for Study in Cultural Development (ZAPROKUL), an institution which itself works in the field of cultural policy, Darka Radosavljevic from the Independent Artistic Association Remont, Dragoslav Krnajski from the Initiative committee of the members of Association of Fine Artists of Serbia, Sladjana Novakovic form the Rende publishing house, Jelena Knezevic from the Bitef Theatre and BITEF festival, Jelena Vesic from the Prelom collective and informal network of independent organisations Other Scene (Druga scena), Ana Lukovic from the Ebart Media Documentation, as well as Vesna Milosavljevic from the SEEcult.org portal for culture, one of BIRN’s partners in the BICCED project.

The meeting was held as part of the preparatory phase of the BICCED project, which provides for training of journalists from the region of Western Balkans in analytical reporting on cultural policies. Three separate groups of journalists will be trained over the course of the three year programme. The issues discussed by these key opinion-formers in the cultural scene, will serve as a basis for defining the editorial strategy of the projects and topics looked into by the journalists engaged in the project.

A similar meeting was recently held in Sarajevo, and others are planned in Pristina, Skopje and Tirana to provide a region-wide view in preparation for a conference on cultural policies and media to be held on April 20th in Skopje. The first group of ten journalists chosen for the programme will attend the conference alongside experts and practitioners in the field of culture in the region.

Candidate short-listing underway

Balkan Fellowship team members are engaged in selecting the best candidates for this year’s programme, on the topic of ‘Taboo’. The exact number of eligible applications received per country is the following: Serbia 42, Romania 27, Croatia 19, Bulgaria 15, Albania 12, Bosnia & Herzegovina 10, Kosovo 6, Macedonia 6, and Montenegro 6.

This year, candidates have focused on categories such as religion, national identity, poverty & health issues, domestic violence, technology, as well as political & economic issues, among others. The final results will be announced on March 25th on our website while all candidates will be individually informed about the results of the fourth annual competition for the Balkan Fellowship.

The Selection Committee will be in charge of choosing the journalists for this year’s programme. 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.

Ten journalists will have the opportunity to participate in the program, receiving funding and professional support to conduct research in the region and the EU. At the end of the 7-month long program, the international commission will award prizes of 4.000, 3.000, and 1.000 Euros to the authors of the top three best articles.

Fellowship Winner Published First Book

Maja Hrgovic, winner of the 1st Fellowship for jounalistic exellence prize for 2009, has recently published her first book, complilation of fiction stories.

The winner is the one who least cares (stories)

The winner is the one who least cares – is one of the rules in a world situated in the heart of a city far away from the shinny city centers, a city where unusual heroes live; those who drink away their beer mugs at pubs alongside the railroad, in quarters which are destroyed overnight and become large shopping areas.

The compilation of stories are a powerful combination of poetics, selfishness, humor and cynicism – the true measurements of interpersonal relations (love, wandering, of all our gains and losses) which never leave a sour after-taste.

Maja Hrgovic from Zagreb, Croatia, currently works for daily newspaper Novi list as a journalist in the culture section. In 2009 Maja was awarded with the first prize at the end of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence annual programme for the article “Families Pay the Price as Women Go West” – focusing on socioeconomic migrations. As journalist she has several years’ experience of covering gender issues and she is one of the leading bloggers in Croatia. Her stories, among others, have been published in multi-author compilations such as “Ekranpriče 04” and “Da sam Šejn” as well as in many Balkan journalistic magazines at a national and regional level, and she has been recognized in the Anthology “Best Croatian stories of 2007”.

Life in Kosovo Discusses War Veterans

This Thursday, the TV show Life in Kosovo discusses war veterans of Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA.

Does the KLA enjoy respect for their contribution to the war? Do we have a clear state strategy on how we
should treat people who contributed in the war?

How does Kosovo’s handling of war veterans compare to other countries? Is the government using the KLA’s war in order to cover their mistakes and deficiencies? How does a fighter feel today? How much attention is paid to the aesthetic and cultural message from sites which are representing the most important part of our history? How does the proposal for the memorial complex of the Jashari family in Prekaz look?

To discuss the position of war veterans from the KLA and the cultural importance of the memorial facilities,
the following guests joined Jeta Xharra in the studio:

Ylber Selmani, war invalid
Shqipe Mehmeti-Selimi, former KLA fighter
Faik Fazliu, Prime Minister’s advisor
Përparim Rama, architect

The journalist Jeta Abazi talks about the treatment of war veterans by our society.

In the section Justice in Kosovo, the researcher Besiana Gashi shows that despite the many investments,
the Information System of Managing Cases, SIML, doesn’t function in Kosovo’s courts.

Journalist Fatos Halili looks at the national debating tour “Prishtina Open 2010” for students,held on February 27 and 28 and organised by non-governmental organisations in Kosovo.

The show ends with the satirical section Lamje.

Life in Kosovo debates the process of appointing judges and prosecutors

Life in Kosovo broadcasts a debate on the process of appointing and reappointing judges and prosecutors in the judicial system of Kosovo.

What are the reasons of dragging this process for two years? Has there been political influence in this process? Are judges and prosecutors disappointed? How much time is needed in order to have a functional judicial system? Do judges and prosecutors deserve to retake the ethics exam which they failed the first time?

To discuss these and related judicial issues, the following panellists join Edona Musa in the studio:

Fejzullah Hasani, Head of the Supreme Court of Kosovo
Lirie Osmani, Head of the Judicial Council of Kosovo
Ismet Kabashi, Chief Prosecutor
Kapllan Baruti, Head of the Mitrovica District Court
Dastid Pallaska, Attorney

During the course of the show, BIRN will broadcast an interview with the leader of Vetëvendosje,Self-Determination movement, Albin Kurti, in his offices.

As part of the Justice in Kosovo section, the researcher Florent Spahija talks about the lack of efficiency in solving court cases.

The journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu talks about the dysfunctional Public Finance Commission, and in the section Week’s Highlight, the journalist Jeta Abazi talks about an insurance company which has fulfilled its promise and paid for the damages to an injured person.

At the end of the show, highlights from second anniversary of Kosovo’s independence will be shown, followed by the satirical section Lamjet.

Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.

2010 Programme Promotion in full swing

We are pressing ahead with Fellowship promotional campaigns while queries and applications continue to arrive from countries covered by the scope of the programme.

In order to attract quality candidates and keep up the high standards set during previous years, fellowship team has focused its efforts in notifying all the major media organizations and media outlets in the region. Information on the Fellowship has been published by media and web platforms and disseminated via mailing lists, organizations and professional forums throughout the Balkans, while the Fellowship programme 2010 web page has received around 5,000 visitors.

This year, the programme promotion has been expanded to Social Networks and Media Marketing such as Facebook & LinkedIn, important tools for keeping people informed and up to date on the latest news and happenings.

Within the framework of this year’s topic “Taboo” we are hoping to open debate and offer fresh insights on issues about which there is little serious discussion in the media in South East Europe.

As we continue to proactively promote this year’s programme, we are also ready to reach out to new applicants and potential fellows, in view of the announcement of new fellows in March 2010.