Category: News and Events

BIRN Macedonia Holds Third Training for Young Journalists

The third in a year-long series of training courses for a dozen young journalists took place from February 23-25 in Berovo, North Macedonia.

Building on the previous training sessions, the third course, which took place in Berovo, aimed to help a dozen young journalists begin work on stories that will be published by BIRN Macedonia’s publication, Prizma.

During the three-day course, BIRN journalists explained to the participants where and how to find stories, how big stories can be uncovered from simple checks, how to develop a story idea into a reporting plan, where to look for data and how to identify sources.

In a simulation of a newsroom editorial meeting, trainees pitched stories in teams and were assigned senior journalists as mentors to develop stories. Together with the participants, BIRN’s team discussed the topics, assessed their viability and gave advice about how the stories could be executed. Five topics were chosen as a result of the stories that were pitched.

During the training, the participants were shown how to look for and obtain data in dozen different open-source databases that BIRN’s journalists regularly use in researching and writing their own stories. With the mentors’ guidance, the participants then applied these databases to their chosen topics.

The participants were also given an interview simulation, as well as a presentation on storytelling.

By the end of the training course, each team presented the work they had done on their stories together with their mentors over the course of the weekend and gave an estimated timeline by which they would be finished. The stories should be published in the coming months.

Fellowship 2024: Voices – Call for Applications Open

We are awarding 10 fellowships to journalists from Central and South-Eastern Europe who have an idea for a story that needs dedicated on-the-ground reporting, in-depth research, generous funding and sustained editorial attention to do it justice.

Applications are solicited under this year’s theme, Voices. Successful applicants will be selected by an independent committee to take part in our annual programme for professional development, culminating in the production of a compelling long-form story to be published by BIRN, its media partners and/or the media outlets from the region.

Our output takes the form of features, analysis and investigations, presented in depth for a global audience. We emphasise strong storytelling and rigorous, on-the-ground reporting – qualities traditionally associated with the best magazine journalism.

The Fellowship provides:

  • a bursary of €3,000
  • the chance to improve your reporting skills by working in close collaboration with world-class editors
  • ongoing mentoring and support from BIRN’s leading regional journalistic network, present in 14 countries of the Central and SEE region
  • the opportunity to participate in an introductory seminar in Vienna, May 20th – 24th, focused on reporting and storytelling techniques,
  • the chance to win additional awards worth between 1.000 and 3.000 euros for the best three stories
  • worldwide publication of reports in local languages and English through our network of media partners
  • membership of the Fellowship alumni network, designed to support networking between fellows who have participated in the programme since 2007
  • This year’s call is open until March 25th. Please send us your proposal using the official application form.
  • To maximize your chances of a successful application read more about the programme including the tips from our editors.

Here is what our editor, Neil Arun, has to say about this year’s topic.

Before journalism, the printing press and the first clay tablets where our ancestors practised their writing, there was the spoken word. Every year, the Fellowship asks applicants to consider a theme. This year’s theme, Voices, goes back to the oldest form of communication.

It also appeals to the instinct that, we believe, drives the best long-form journalism: the desire to get away from the desk and hit the road in search of those sources, those voices, that can add something meaningful to a bigger conversation.

On social media today, it can seem as if everyone has a voice. However, not all voices are heard, or worth hearing. What are the voices in your society that have been drowned out by the noise? What do we miss when we don’t listen? Whose are the voices worth seeking out at this moment? How does power speak, and what does it leave unsaid? And how will your Fellowship story send out a signal that can cut through the noise?

Our themes are always broad, because we want to attract the broadest range of applications. If you haven’t got a pitch in mind for the Fellowship, we hope the theme will inspire you. If you already have a story that you would like to report, please take a few minutes to tease out a link with the theme in your application. Don’t worry if the link seems a bit of a stretch – we are looking to gauge your ability to argue, rather than your fidelity to the theme. And we will always prioritise a good pitch that is only loosely linked to the theme over a weak pitch that fits the theme perfectly. Good luck.

About the Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence

The Fellowship has been providing journalists with editorial guidance and funding to pursue agenda-setting stories since 2007. Aimed at promoting the development of a robust and responsible press, the programme has helped shape journalistic standards across the region while boosting the careers of participating reporters.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and Erste Foundation set up the Fellowship with a view to encouraging in-depth cross-border reporting in south-eastern Europe. In 2020, the programme was expanded to include four central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

To read our stories and find out more about the Fellowship please visit the Fellowship official page.

‘New Wave’, BIRN Albania’s Documentary on Migration, Screened in Tirana

New film explores push factors behind latest migration wave from Albania toward the European Union and Britain.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania on February 13 staged the premiere of its documentary New Wave in Tirana. More than 100 people – some of the standing – gathered at the Agimi Art Center for the screening, including members of the diplomatic corps, activists, journalists and filmmakers.

The documentary, produced in cooperation with Barraka Production and directed by award-winning director, Elton Baxhaku, explores the push factors behind Albania’s latest migration wave toward the European Union and the United Kingdom.

It includes interviews with people from different walks of life and different regions of the country, as well as experts and academics that study migration and its impact on individuals, families and society, in an attempt to explain what is pushing so many to migrate and what this means for the Albania and its future.

Elton Baxhaku is an Albanian filmmaker best known for his 2014
documentary Skandal, the 2016 documentary Selita, which was co-directed by Eriona Çami, and Free Flow in 2018.

The documentary was produced as part of the project “Using Big Data and Multimedia to Boost Quality and Independent Journalism in Albania”, which is supported by the European Union and the Swedish government and implemented by BIRN Albania.

The project worked to create an enabling environment for Albanian journalists to produce independent content through training, mentoring, technical and financial support, in close cooperation with civil society, so improving freedom of expression and strengthening media pluralism in Albania.

In the next few months BIRN Albania will take the documentary on the road and hold screenings in several Albanian cities and towns, which are considered as ground zero for the latest migration wave.

Serbia Buying More Video Surveillance Equipment, BIRN Report Reveals

State institutions and public enterprises are increasingly buying video surveillance systems, including equipment with face recognition and detection features, BIRN Serbia reveals in its new report based on public procurement data analysis.

BIRN Serbia’s analysis of public procurements conducted in 2022 and 2023 found 61 purchases of surveillance equipment and softwares, worth over 17 million euros.

The findings were presented in a new report, “Public Procurements of Surveillance Equipment: The Thin Line between Security and Privacy“.

“Procurements of video surveillance equipment are by far the most numerous. There are 48 such contracts with a total value of over 12.8 million euros. The purchasers of this equipment are local government units (19 procurements), public and public utility companies (22 procurements), hospitals (3), and correctional institutions (2),“ the report states.

A sample revealed 13 public procurements of equipment with the capability of biometric face recognition. Such procurements, emphasized the analysis, not only violate the right to privacy but also contradict Serbia’s laws.

„In addition to local government, some less expected entities have procured face-recognition equipment – elementary and high schools in Požega, a hospital in Sombor, Belgrade markets and the Directorate for Urban Planning and Construction of Belgrade,” the report states.

In addition to video surveillance, institutions also procured cryptographic devices, such as the Office for Information and eGovernment. The analysis of public procurements revealed two procurements for equipment that enabled monitoring and control of employees.

The report states that the Administration for Joint Affairs of Provincial Bodies purchased personnel record software „which includes personal information of employees” and envisages gathering health conditions, chronic illnesses and religious beliefs.

The largest supplier of video surveillance equipment was the company Maccina Security. During the research period, this company concluded 14 contracts for the procurement of video surveillance equipment, totaling almost one billion dinars.

According to the Public Procurement Portal, Maccina Security signed at least 103 contracts with state institutions, local government units and public enterprises from October 2020 to now.

„The analysis also noted several problems in the public procurement procedures, primarily the lack of consistent application of the General Vocabulary of Public Procurement, with public institutions and companies ordering different types of goods or services under the same code. Secondly, the lack of competitiveness, as only one bidder appeared in 75 per cent of the analyzed procurements,“ the report states.

BIRN Albania Wins Landmark FOI Case

Verdict forces Qualification Commission to reveal name of private sponsor who paid for vetting institutions staff’s weekend retreat in luxury resort.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania has won a landmark lawsuit against the Independent Qualification Commission, IQC, over the right to public information.

The IQC is one of three institutions charged with vetting judges and prosecutors in Albania.

The verdict, which was adjudicated by the Appeals Administrative Court in Tirana, forces the IQC to reveal the name of a private sponsor who paid the bill for a weekend retreat in a luxurious resort for the vetting institutions staff.

BIRN sought the records from the IQC in 2022. After the IQC refused, a complaint was filed with the Commissioner on the Right to Information. The Commissioner ruled in BIRN’s favour but the IQC filed a lawsuit against his decision.

In the First Instance Administrative Court in Tirana, BIRN Albania journalist Edmond Hoxhaj joined the case as a third party. When the judge ruled in favour of the IQC, Hoxhaj appealed, and on January 23, the Administrative Court reversed the verdict, upholding the earlier decision of the Commissioner for the Right to Information.

BIRN Serbia Report Highlights Privacy Rights Violations in Media

The majority of the most-read online media in Serbia regularly publish personal data of individuals they report on, violating their right to privacy, a new BIRN Serbia report reveals.

The latest BIRN monitoring report „Invasion of privacy: Analysis of media coverage” shows that privacy rights violations in media reporting are common and that journalists often base their reports on personal data.

Behind such widespread violations of privacy are various interests, from editorial policies and tabloid approaches to content processing, to the demands of the digital environment favouring speed, clickability and content virality.

The report says it’s particularly concerning that a large number of privacy violations came from state institutions.

In addition to monitoring privacy violations in the regular media, the report presents a special case study analysing privacy violations in reporting on the school mass killings that shook Serbia in May last year.

Key findings include:

  • The more media outlets produce, the more frequently they violate privacy rights.
  • Privacy rights are most commonly violated during coverage of murders and other forms of violence, especially domestic violence, as well as searches for missing persons.
  • In almost half of the analysed articles, personal data is found in the headlines, accompanied by sensationalism and frequent use of amplifiers, ensuring an emotional audience reaction and clickability.
  • The most commonly published personal information include: full names, health status, home addresses, information about past crimes, etc.
  • During 2023, one of the groups whose privacy rights were most often violated were minors.
  • Media that breach privacy rights often do not put bylines on these articles or photos. Access to numerous personal data on social media profiles also contributes to the identification of victims and suspects.

The report covers seven media outlets that previous studies by civil society organisations and the Press Council have found to frequently violate media laws and journalistic ethical codes.

These are: Alo, Blic, Informer, Kurir, Nova, Novosti, and Telegraf. All these media outlets are among the top 10 in terms of visits (source: Gemius Audience), and so have a significant influence on public opinion.

Meet the People Behind BIRN: Adelina Ahmeti

From an active basketball player to an awarded journalist who has worked on investigations of many cases that ended with arrests, indictments or dismissals of officials due to corruption – this has been the professional path of 27-year-old Adelina Ahmeti, a BIRN Network journalist working at KALLXO.com.

Adelina began her career as an intern at KALLXO.com at the end of 2015 and was promoted to journalist within months. Her primary fields of experience relate to security issues and law enforcement, and her articles often arouse regional interest.

Let’s meet her!

  1. You were a basketball player. If it weren’t for your injury, would you still be a sportsperson, or something else?

Although not as active as before, I am still a sportsperson. Now I prefer other forms, like walking, running, or fitness, a little easier sport that does not cause me injury problems. Now I’ve become a journalist, I tend to believe that everything happens for a reason.

  1. How did you decide to become a journalist?

It’s a cliché, and we hear it many times – “I dreamed of this profession as a child,” – but it is true. Watching news shows on TV and reading good pieces in newspapers, I always imagined having my name on the bylines and doing the same. I always wanted to do something to help other people, to be the voice of my community, to investigate any case that we can learn something about, to go and report from a place where people don’t have access, to tell them only the truth and what’s really happening there, to be everywhere for them – because journalism is not easy, we need to work hard to get attention and then have their trust. When people trust us, we can get so much information about what’s happening in institutions and cases.

  1. You have worked at KALLXO.com since 2015. Regarding journalism, your primary fields of experience are related to security issues and law enforcement. What did you find most challenging in your work so far?

When I start thinking about this, I see one fact: I always watched movies and documentaries about police, lawyers and crime cases, and when one of my editors called me and asked if I wanted to be a journalist who follows security issues, I didn’t hesitate to say: “Yes, of course, I love this.” But, as a 19-year-old at that time, hesitations came as I started overthinking about whether I would be able to create enough sources for my work to follow what was happening in security institutions. Now, eight years later, I feel proud, and I’m happy about everything I did in the past years investigating so many cases that ended with arrests, indictments or dismissals of various officials due to corruption cases. It was hard at the beginning because when I started to go into police stations or crime scenes, people often watched me strangely. It was not common then for women journalists to report from difficult areas or cases. The situation has changed a lot since then, and I see more and more young women working as journalists, taking on serious cases to report on.

  1. Last year was very rewarding for your work since you received the award in the field of child protection from the Coalition of NGOs for Child Protection in Kosovo. Can you tell us a bit more about your awarded story, “Sex Crime File: How the Accused of Sexual Assault on a Student Was Released”?

I started working on this case in 2022 when someone wanted to meet me to discuss his 14-year-old daughter, who’d been the victim of a sexual assault in her school. He first told me: “I don’t believe the system, the police, the prosecutor, and I came here to tell you what’s happening with the case.” I thought this was a reward for me; people who’d lost trust in institutions that are supposed to protect them come to me to address their problems with a system which is not working. These are the moments that grow you as a journalist.

It was continuous work on the story. In the end, it resulted in an investigation that made the prosecution extend the investigations and indict a second suspect, who was previously somehow “forgotten” and considered just as a witness.

  1. During your career, you received many awards for investigative journalism. What do they mean to you?

First of all, pride. Taking awards is not what I think of when I work on any investigation. It is just an evaluation of my work by others who assess it. My first and foremost goal is to try to give a voice to those who are unheard. The impact of the reports is the biggest prize for me. The awards given to me over the years since I started my career are just another impetus for the work we do.

Call for Applications: BIRN Kosovo Training on Fact-Checking Journalism for Young Journalists

In multi-ethnic, post-conflict societies, misinformation has the potential to adversely impact conditions for sustained peace and coexistence among communities and create political strife.

Moreover, in a digital and social media age, and with the steep rise of online news portals in Kosovo, rumors and manipulated fake news can have heightened operational consequences for credible media outlets and journalists in Kosovo.

Media outlets lack the necessary capacities (resources and skillsets) to report on issues and uphold professional fact-checking standards, whereas consumers are not well-equipped to identify spurious news stories and debunk them.

Such false news items are frequently on topics related to members of non-majority communities, which in turn perpetuates discrimination, and reinvigorates fear and insecurity amongst readers. These news items are easily spread across most online media given current social media algorithms reward polarizing and extreme content.

To address these challenges and create more credible and professional future generations of journalists in Kosovo, on February 26, 2024, BIRN will organize a one-day training module with journalists and journalism students on fact-checking standards, methodologies, and tools.

The one-day training module will bring together 20 young and mid-career journalists as well as students of journalism from different communities, who will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and hands-on skills on how to report on fact-checking methodology and tools.

The training module will be delivered by BIRN’s team of award-winning journalists and editors, who have extensive experience in investigating, reporting on, and advocating for fact-checked journalism.

Who can apply?

Students of journalism, young and mid-career journalists across different regions in Kosovo, who are interested in learning more about reporting based on fact-checking methodologies are eligible to apply for this call.

Applicants from marginalized communities in Kosovo, including members of minority ethnic communities and women, that fulfill the above-mentioned criteria are encouraged to apply for this call.

To apply for the one-day training on fact-checking reporting click here.

Language:

Simultaneous translation in Albanian, Serbian, and English will be provided.

Location:

The training will take place in Prishtina, Kosovo. Details regarding the specific location and agenda will only be provided to selected participants.

Deadline for application: February 5, 2024

Date of the training course: February 26, 2024

*This training activity is supported by the UNMIK.

International Free Media Advocates Condemn Cyber-Attack and False Copyright Claims Against BIRN

International Press Institute, and Media Freedom Rapid Response condemn cyber-attack and false copyright claims against BIRN’’s flagship website Balkan Insight.

The International Press Institute, IPI – a global network of editors, media executives and journalists, with a mission to defend media freedom and the free flow of news – and the Media Freedom Rapid Response, MFRR – a Europe-wide mechanism that tracks violations of press freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries – on January 10 condemned the cyber-attack and false copyright claims that BIRN received in December 2023.

“International Press Institute, IPI condemns the recent DDoS cyber-attack and two allegedly fraudulent copyright claims filed against BIRN which comes after it refused to delete public interest reports on convicted Turkish fraudster Yasam Ayavefe,” stated IPI.

MFRR included the attacks against BIRN on its Mapping Media Freedom map.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network’s website, Balkan Insight, on December 22 received a major distributed denial-of-service DDoS attack after it published news about false copyright claims made over two of its articles concerning convicted Turkish fraudster Yasam Ayavefe.

A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the regular functioning of a targeted server by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic.

BIRN on December 19 had published a news article, “BIRN Texts on Turkish Fraudster Falsely Reported over Copyright,”  about two false copyright infringement complaints it had received concerning two of its articles.

The first article, published February 15, had been about a cyber-attack on the Greek media outlet Documento, after it reported that Ayavefe’s wife had secured fake ID papers from an organised crime gang.

The second article, published July 26, had been about the request of an Ayavefe representative for BIRN to remove its reports about his client.

“These kinds of posts affect the business life of my client [Ayavefe]. He has invested in so many countries and posts like this cause my client material and moral damage,” Bener Ljutviovski, who introduced himself as Ayavefe’s representative, told BIRN in an email.

BIRN received the copyright infringement complaints via a hosting company that leases out servers, submitted by two people under the name of Rocky Paul, purportedly based in Colorado, US, and from an individual named Sharon Henkel, purportedly based in France.

The complaints claimed that a blogspot page titled Global News Express and a Tumblr account called “mindbluray” had originally published the BIRN articles.

However, the alleged authors had merely republished the BIRN articles, changing the dates from February 26 to February 1 and from July 26 to July 21.

It is not the first time cyber-attacks have buffeted BIRN; in September 2022, BIRN and its Greek partner media outlet Solomon’s websites came under a DDoS attack after publishing an investigation on how Ayavefe – despite being convicted by a Turkish court in 2017 of defrauding online gamblers and arrested in Greece in 2019 trying to cross the border into Bulgaria on a false passport – got honorary Greek citizenship.

The investigative outlet Inside Story first wrote about Ayavefe’s Greek citizenship – and came under a DDoS attack after publishing its report on him.

In the meantime, Ayavefe managed to get 201 online content items in Turkey removed under three court orders. The removed content included news articles, social media posts and even the official website content and social media posts of the Turkish Police.

Ayavefe’s representative in July, besides asking for the removal of the articles, offered BIRN financial incentives in return for compliance. “My client Dr Yasam Ayavefe has an advertising company, if you help us in this case we can provide advertising services to your organisation, so you can grow to a bigger organisation. We would love to cooperate with you,” he wrote.

BIRN rejected Ljutviovski’s offer and his repeated demands to remove the articles about Ayavefe.

BIRN Kosovo publishes report on justice system’s handling of terrorism and corruption cases in 2023

BIRN Kosovo published the report titled “The Justice System’s Handling Cases with Terrorism and Corruption Charges in 2023”, which is based on the monitoring of the justice system and presents a detailed analysis of how cases of terrorism and corruption are handled by the justice system in Kosovo during 2023.

BIRN monitored 7 terrorism cases and 16 corruption cases that remain active in 2023, which are handled by the Special Department of Basic Court in Prishtina, and also gathered data from public documents on cases of terrorism and corruption.

This report highlights the lenient sentencing policy and non-involvement of all institutions as the main weaknesses of the system, especially in corruption cases. It also reveals the courts’ serious issues with the delays in handling cases, by showing data from prolonged cases handled by the Special Department of the Basic Court in Prishtina and the Special Department of the Court of Appeals in 2023.

As per the terrorism cases, data from this report shows that the justice system had a quicker approach to dealing with such cases. However, considerable delays are also observed between the time when the crime is alleged to have been committed and the time when the indictment is filed and when the trials are held. As for punishments, this report finds the sentencing policy inadequate. Revealing that in 3 out of 7 monitored cases that have been issued a conviction, sentences appeared in the lowest threshold of the sentence envisaged.

The report also provides recommendations intended to be a useful aid to justice institutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Kosovo’s justice system and contribute to developing the necessary justice reforms.

The main recommendations of this report focus on the improvement of Prosecution from addressing the mistakes made in the application of investigative techniques, to considering the court’s findings when prosecutors failed to establish the intent of the accused in committing criminal offenses and ensuring prosecutors are provided with skills and updated knowledge to investigate violent extremism and terrorism cases.

Other recommendations include the further strengthening of KJK and KPK collaboration with international organizations, civil society, and other relevant institutions, as well as the media, with the common goal of strengthening the efforts against corruption and increasing the public’s trust in the justice system.

Click here for the report on Albanian and English.

This activity is implemented as part of the “Media as a means to improve the transparency of the justice system and the fight against terrorism and extremism” project, supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation through the Italian embassy in Prishtina.