Category: News and Events

Sessions on investigating human rights abuses kicked off the fifth day of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Alison Killing, founder of Killing Architects, spoke about how they used advanced visual investigation techniques to uncover the tragic events that led to the deaths of 23 people and the disappearance of 77 others at the border post in Melilla, Spain, in June last year.

Killing also presented their investigation into the network of camps built by the Chinese government in Xinjiang for the mass detention of Muslims. Journalists couldn’t work effectively in Xianjing, so they used satellite imagery.

“When we started, we thought we might find 500,000 blanked-out map tiles on the Chinese Baidu Maps. We found 5 million,” Killing said. The question was how this information could meet journalistic standards.

Participants were introduced to data journalism, a discipline based on data analysis that helps tell stories that happen systematically. Editor-in-Chief of Correctiv Olaya Argüeso Perez presented examples of data-based stories and then guided journalists through some exercises.

Friday concluded with a panel discussion on investigating the crisis over migration policy in Greece.

Apostolos Fotiadis and Stavros Maluchidis, from the Greek independent media outlet “We Are Solomon”, discussed the challenges of reporting on migration.

“The Greek public broadcaster calls migrants ‘illegal’. This should not be the case. We, journalists, need to work better and think about the language we use,” Maluchidis said.

The Head of the Migration Policy Europe Programme at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Neda Noraie-Kia, agreed.

“Mainstream media play a crucial role in informing the public about migrants and assessing what is happening with them. Policies go hand in hand with the language used. With this kind of language, they are already suggesting that something illegal is happening,” Noraie-Kia said.

“Traditional reporting is dead. To make it work, we need to combine different techniques, such as OSINT when reporting on migration,” Maluchidis added.

Apostolos Fotiadis talked about the responsibility of journalists when covering the war in Ukraine.

“We need to go beyond the agenda of Brussels and governments. We should also talk about arms trade and export that fuels wars and displacement,” he said.

The one-week training programme ended on Saturday with the participants presenting their investigative story proposals to BIRN editors.

Journalists pitched more than 15 ideas, mostly cross-border. Proposed stories deal with migration, healthcare, human rights and corruption, to name a few.

BIRN editors will select the best pitches. Selected journalists will receive funding, editorial support and mentoring from BIRN.

ABOUT THE ONE-MONTH EXCHANGE PROGRAMME

The One-Month Regional Exchange Programme is a capacity-building opportunity for media, editors and journalists from the Western Balkans. The aim is to facilitate a quality news and investigative production environment, by enabling both parties to engage in knowledge exchange, comprehensive mentoring and cross-border approaches.

BIRN and the hosting media will develop exchange programmmes for 2023 and 2024, addressing the needs and expectations of both hosting media and editors/ journalists. The programme will serve as a guideline for the whole exchange and will result in the production of cross-border stories, enhancing both short-term and long-term regional collaboration between the host media and the participating editors/ journalists, enabling them to investigate stories with effects that surpass national borders.

WHO IS IT DESIGNED FOR?

The exchange programme is designed for both media and editors / journalists from the Western Balkans. This programme will create opportunities for the host media to share their knowledge with colleagues from other media and Western Balkan region. On the other side, it will enable the editors / journalists to spend one month immersed in a host media from another country while at the same time working together.

Both the host media and the editors / journalists will be selected through an open call, in accordance with the selection criteria. The editors / journalists will be given an opportunity to select host media in a different from their home country.

WHAT IS THE HOST MEDIA`S ROLE?

Within this call, BIRN is looking for hosting media from Western Balkan countries that will:

• Collaborate with BIRN to develop the exchange programmme for 2023 and 2024, addressing the needs and expectations of both hosting media and editors/ journalists. The programme will result in the production of cross-border stories, enhancing both short-term and long-term regional collaboration between the host media and participating editors/ journalists, enabling them to investigate stories with effects that surpass national borders.
• Host editors / journalist through the one-month exchange programmes during 2023 and 2024. One media can host up to two journalists.
• Provide the participating editors and journalists with an opportunity to exchange experiences with more senior colleagues from the host media and gain insider knowledge on different editorial policies and journalistic techniques, which can be replicated in the newsroom back home.
• Guide participating editors and journalists to work on the production of cross-border in-depth stories.
• Ensure production and publication of at least two (2) cross-border in-depth stories per participant.

BENEFITS AND LOGISTICS FOR HOST MEDIA

• Gain fresh insights and inputs from participants working in diverse settings and potentially different countries.
• Collaborate with participants on in-depth stories that can be published by both the host media and the participants’ own media houses.
• Engage in knowledge-sharing and experience exchange with all participants, promoting cross-border collaboration on journalistic projects.
• Receive a monthly fee of 500 euros separately for each participant. One media can host up to two journalists within the two years. The participants will be provided with a fellowship that will cover accommodation, travel and a bursary.
• Coordinate the time for the exchange programme (during 2023 and 2024), subject to mutual agreement between BIRN, media and the participants.
• One host media can host an editor / journalists both in 2023 and 2024.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Media outlets registered in any of the six (6) Western Balkan countries are invited to apply to this call.

Hosting media will be selected based on the following criteria:

1. Interest, motivation, commitment and capacities to host journalists / editors as part of the regional exchange programme.
2. Mutual thematic alignment between hosting media and the preferences of editors/journalists for cross-border investigations. Editors/journalists will have the opportunity to choose from a curated list of hosting media outlets that align with their interests. 

HOW TO APPLY?

 Please share your interest to be a host media by filling in the application form latest by October 16.

If you have questions about the programme and the call, please contact Marija Vasilevska at [email protected].

This call is part of the project “Strengthening Quality Journalism in Western Balkans and Türkiye II”.

On Thursday, sessions on investigative podcasts started the fourth day of the BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Michael Montgomery, a senior reporter and producer for Reveal, talked about the fundamentals of investigative podcasts. Podcasts are getting more popular every year, with more than half lasting over 30 minutes.

Podcasts are visually powerful forms of audio that tell big, sometimes emotionally complex stories and offer clarity in chaos. “For many podcasts, the central framing device is a question,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery talked about the old dramatic principle, the three-act story structure that divides a story into setup, confrontation and resolution.

“The work we do with podcasts is very emotional. It’s very important to master the three-act story structure if you want to do investigative podcasts,” he advised.

Taja Topolovec, Co-Founder and CEO of podcrto.si, said that a podcast is much more intimate than just reading an article. “It’s like someone talking directly into your ear. People are waiting for the next episode to come out,” Topolovec said.

“For us, podcasting was a way to connect more with an international audience, to get more international context. In the last few years, podcasting has become a very important product,” the Slovenian podcaster said.

Sandrine Rigaud, editor of Forbidden Stories, spoke about the four essential characteristics of cross-border journalism. Journalists from different countries decide on an idea of mutual interest, gather and share material, and then publish the story for their audience.

“The challenges include cultural differences, different practices and standards, the timing of publication, and allocation of time resources,” Rigaud told the participants.

“Sharing is one of the golden rules of collaboration. We share findings, interview notes, documents, and plans so we do not duplicate. We don’t have to share the identity of confidential sources, but we share quotes, off-the-record information,” the French journalist said.

The Summer School continues on Friday with investigating migration and human rights abuses and an introduction to data journalism.

On Wednesday, sessions on digital security kicked off the third day of the BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Milica Stojanovic, BIRN journalist and digital security trainer, explained the importance of cyber security. “You are responsible for yourself, your colleagues and your sources,” she told the participants.

“Digital security is a habit, like locking the door when you leave home,” Stojanovic said. She walked participants through the most secure applications and offered tips on setting the best passwords.

“Passwords must be at least 16 characters long and must be changed every six months. Have a different password for each account,” Stojanovic advised.

Co-founder of The Self-Investigation Mar Cabra spoke about mental health and the problem of burnout. “I believe the journalism industry is broken. We need to make it healthier,” Cabra said.

Last year, 60 per cent of journalists worldwide reported high levels of anxiety, and one in five showed signs of depression, according to reports.

“Never fail to ask yourself how you are doing,” Cabra advised. She explained that ignoring our body’s signals, doing work not aligned with our values, and lacking hobbies can all lead to burnout.

The Summer School continues on Thursday with an introduction to investigative podcasts and cross-border journalism.

The second day of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece on Tuesday started with a session on open-source investigations entitled How to Expose Police Violence.

Marija Ristic, manager at Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab, explained how open-source elements and information can be used to analyse policing weapons and equipment.

Ristic also talked about journalists in demonstrations. “Journalists should be considered bystanders at protests. Any attack on them is generally not allowed,“ Ristic said.

Sam Joiner, visual stories editor at the Financial Times, talked about how to take a complex story and make it digestible.

“Visuals have to carry you through the story. Visual journalism allows you to understand stories differently. It requires lots of people to think outside the box,” Joiner told participants.

“There are two types of projects. Stories that use visuals to explain topics and themes that transcend the daily news agenda. And there are visual investigations, public interest journalism using visual evidence to break stories of global significance,” Joiner said before presenting the FT’s visual investigation into North Korean oil-smuggling.

The general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Gutierrez, spoke about helping journalists in exile.

After Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, “our first reaction was to try to evacuate colleagues from Ukraine. But they wanted to stay. So we changed our plans and provided them with safety equipment so they could continue their work,” Gutierrez said.

“We have a programme in Kosovo. We convinced the government to offer shelter to 20 Ukrainian journalists in exile. We launched the programme in March 2022, and the first journalists arrived the following month,” he continued.

The European Federation of Journalists doesn’t have comprehensive European data on journalists in exile, partly because many don’t want to be put on a list, Gutierrez explained. Most of the Russian journalists who fled to the EU now live in Germany or the Netherlands, he added.

Journalist and researcher Hanna Liubakova left Belarus after the presidential elections in 2020, when the government intensified its crackdown on independent journalism.

Liubakova said she fled after she was put under surveillance. “For security reasons, I had to change my location every few days. Then I received a signal that it was better for me to leave the country,” she said.

She told participants that Belarusians are still interested in independent news and use social media such as TikTok as well as websites to follow what is happening in the country.

The Summer School continues on Wednesday with digital security training and a workshop about mental health and burnout.

This year’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting started on Monday in Thessaloniki, Greece.

During the week-long programme, journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Georgia and Uzbekistan will master their investigative skills and techniques and learn from Pulitzer and European Press Prize winners.

Regional Director of BIRN HUB Milka Domanovic welcomed the participants to one of BIRN’s flagship programmes. “We hope that you will be able to implement the knowledge you gain here and connect even after the course is finished,” Domanovic said.

Ivana Nikolic, Programme Manager at BIRN’s Investigative Reporting Initiative Programme, presented the agenda to participants selected from a record-breaking number of applications – more than 220 this year.

“We are very proud to have had this amazing number of applications, and to be honest, it was very hard to select the best ones,” Nikolic said.

During the week, participants will learn about basics of investigative reporting; OSINT; visual investigations; how to stay digitally secure while working on a story; essentials of cross-border reporting; how to avoid burnout in journalism; how to master data journalism, etc.

In addition, there will be two panel discussions: one dedicated to “journalism in exile”, that is, reporting about one’s country from afar, and one dedicated to investigating the migrant crisis in Greece. The full programme can be found here.

The first day started with Michael Montgomery, a senior reporter and producer for Reveal. He talked about the fundamentals of investigative reporting. “It’s less often than not that you will come up with a completely new story. A new angle on a story that’s been covered can be even more impactful,” Montgomery said, advising participants to follow their passion and check their sense of outrage when choosing a story.

“It’s always easier to get someone to confirm something you already know or think you know than to get them to volunteer information you do not possess. That’s super important, to get people to talk. Most people don’t like to think they are spilling secrets,” Montgomery told participants.

Marija Ristic, Manager at Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab, introduced Open Source Investigations.

“Open-source researchers expose themselves and the subjects of the information they collect to various digital threats. Understanding how to protect yourself and the data generated during your research from threats is essential knowledge for digital investigators,” she said.

The first day ended with a workshop on story pitching, with journalists sharing ideas.

If you are a journalist from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, or Kosovo interested in reporting on digital rights, BIRN’s digital rights reporting training in Sarajevo is an opportunity to deepen your knowledge.

This specialised training course offers a rare chance for regional journalists to delve into some of the most exciting and relevant areas in modern journalism: you will understand digital rights comprehensively, focusing on reporting breaches, content blocking, manipulation and propaganda in the digital realm.

Our training programme will help you understand the complexities of digital rights and their impact on journalism and give you insights into open-source investigations, data journalism, fact-checking, and more. Successful applicants will engage in hands-on workshops about identifying and documenting digital rights violations and will learn to enhance their storytelling by using contemporary multimedia tools.

After completing the training course, the trainees will receive a small grant to write an article, applying their newly acquired skills in digital rights reporting.

Who can apply?

BIRN is inviting journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Kosovo to apply for the three-day training course on digital rights reporting.

How to apply?

To apply, fill out this application form no later than September 5, 2023, at 5pm CET.

Where will it be held?

The training course will take place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from September 26 to September 28, 2023. BIRN will fully cover travel and accommodation costs for all successful applicants.

The working language of the training is English.