News and Events Archives - Page 55 of 264

Fellowship 2023: 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, Security. Successful applicants will be selected by an independent committee to take part in our programme for professional development, culminating in the production of a compelling longform story to be published by BIRN and its media partners.

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 13^th – 16^th , 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 28th. 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.

Questions of security have dominated the news in a year that saw the return of large-scale war to Europe. But security takes many forms beyond protection from invading armies or soaring energy prices. In his famous “hierarchy of needs”, the US psychologist Abraham Maslow ranked the human requirement for security as utterly fundamental, superseded only by physiological needs.

The theme of this year’s Fellowship invites you to consider the many ways in which security – and its absence – are shaping your society. You could, for instance, examine some of the institutions around you that are entrusted to provide some form of security. What happens when they fail? What happens when they over-reach, abusing the trust placed in them? Who suffers? Who benefits? You can report on protection from violence, abuse and injustice. You can also report on economic security – or protection from poverty and exploitation. And then there is the protection of the environment from pollution to consider, and the protection of society from harmful technologies, and of essential supply chains from disruption. You can report on any of these things and you can, of course, also examine the impact of the war in Ukraine if you have a new and compelling story to tell about it.

The annual theme is always broad, in order to attract the broadest range of applications. If you want to apply for the Fellowship but do not have a story in mind, the theme should help you generate ideas. If you already have a story lined up, find a way of linking it to the theme. We will always value a strong application that is loosely linked to the theme over a weak application that is tightly linked to the theme.

About the Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence

The Fellowship has been providing journalists with editorial guidance and funding to pursue agenda-setting stories for more than 15 years. 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 in 2007 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.

BIRN Celebrates Media4All’s Success at Project’s Final Conference in Tirana

BIRN celebrated the success of the project Media4All during the regional training conference “Independent Journalism Matters” held in Tirana from 9-10 March.

The conference gathered journalists and young people interested to become journalists, media workers and organisations from the Western Balkans involved within the project’s activities to talk about new trends in journalism, fact-checking and the importance of support and cooperation in journalism.

Representatives from BIRN involved in the project participated in the conference and shared success stories from its implementation in the past six months.

Together with representatives from the local media outlets supported for engaging in citizens reporting and for using the ECR tool developed by BIRN, they highlighted the importance of mentorship and support provided for local media for the production of quality fact-checked news. The need for continuous capacity building as an approach to countering disinformation was also highlighted.

“The ECR tool has helped us be closer to our audience. It supported us in establishing a sustainable two-way communication street with our audience.” Geri Emiri from Amfora, an ECR grantee from Albania, said.

Eleven mentors/editors from BIRN supported 28 local media outlets and enhanced the local journalists` skills in engagement journalism and raised their editorial standards, with a focus on storytelling, data analysis, verification and fact-checking, contributing to the fight against misinformation and disinformation.

Journalists from 46 media outlets included in the project were given training in fact-checking skills intended to combat misinformation and boost independent reporting.

“BIRN`s editors/ mentors provided comprehensive support for local media outlets for engaging citizens in their reporting, thus enabling direct communication with them and production of quality content. Through BIRN’s developed ECR tool, during the past six months, over 1,000 citizens from all Western Balkan countries were involved in the work of 28 local media outlets proposing topics of their interest and local importance that were further investigated and fact-checked by the local media outlets. Support for countering disinformation and misinformation and fact-checking was also provided through a set of training activities organised by BIRN,” Milka Domanovic, BIRN Network Regional Director, said.

The Conference agenda included discussions and presentations about gender and youth and discources on Digital Dis/Misinformation, Understanding Meta Algorithms and TikTok Distribution, Core Values as a Compass for Media Professionals, Gender Disinformation and other issues.

Key successes on using social media and engaging with audiences and relevance of the content were shared. Speakers also presented tips and tricks on why journalists should use TikTok, the strategy and context on TikTok, profiling the audience and the power of journalists’ creativity on TikTok and the importance of your community.

The Media for All project is being implemented in six countries in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. BIRN is working in partnership with the British Council, Thomson Foundation and Intrac on the project, which is funded by the UK government, with special attention to engaging the public in reporting and fighting fake news.

Tech Company Algorithms Changing Serbia’s Media for Worse, BIRN Report Finds

Visibility is replacing public interest as editors’ priority, while the media landscape is becoming ever more fragmented due to media drives to accommodate tech-companies’ algorithms, BIRN Serbia report finds.

The production and distribution of news and other media content in Serbia is changing in order to adapt to the platform environment of social networks and algorithms managed by large global tech companies such as Google and Meta – which also affect the economic viability of the media in the country – a new BIRN Serbia report, Algorithms, Networks and Media Sustainability: a Game of Big Numbers, finds.

The digital environment managed by a small number of global tech companies is the source of various negative phenomena in the media; the media are expected to produce large amounts of content that adapts to the logic of algorithms, and not always and necessarily to the public interest in information, according to the report. .

Journalistic practice is changing in the direction of producing as much content as possible, with little information value, and headlines are designed to cause psychological reactions in the audience and increase the number of “clicks“ and views.

This type of journalism turns out to be most profitable for generating money from digital advertising. Only a small number of media can follow the trends of the “big numbers” and make money from digital advertising, while the rest of the media still rely on government and other forms of donations, the report says.

Some of the key findings of the report are:

Platformization of journalism, which implies complete dependence of the media on the infrastructure of global social network platforms, as well as the mirroring of economic relations in the media sector.
Favouring the production of a large number of texts, of low-quality and “clickable“ content, which “feeds“ the algorithms with quick changes and contributes to greater virality and visibility. This content is of low quality, does not contribute to public information, and at the same time normalizes “clickbait” journalism as a legitimate product of an algorithmic environment.
Creating a gap between a small number of large media companies that can withstand the race for “big numbers” and the rest of the media that do not have the capacity or resources to adapt to this environment. There is also the creation of a concentration of a small number of publishers who can ensure sustainability from digital advertising, while other media continue to rely on government and other donations.
Media surrender their editorial role, relying on metrics and statistics in the selection of topics, while the public interest remains in the background.
In strategic and other relevant documents, the idea of “techno-solutionism” (the use of technology for economic progress) prevails, without critical reflection on its negative consequences, while the development of alternative models of sustainability that will not threaten the public interest in information is absent.

The report primarily deals with the media system of Serbia and its capacity to adapt to the digital and platform environment. It was created on the basis of in-depth interviews with digital platform experts and representatives of the media and advertisers.

“These findings, as well as the entire report, should be read through the prism of the situation in the media information system in Serbia, which has been burdened with a lack of media freedom for decades, captured by political structures and under constant economic pressure,” said Tanja Maksić, co-author of this report.

“Adapting to the conditions dictated by a small number of powerful tech companies, the media took over the design and logic of the platforms and subordinated the distribution of media content to platforms and search engines, and thus consequently also their economic viability, which increasingly depends on the policies and decisions of the tech companies,” she added.

The legislative framework in Serbia only somewhat regulates the position of online media and digital advertising, usually taking over the regulatory mechanisms of traditional media.

Current Law on Public Information and Media recognizes online media as one of the forms of public information and reflects almost all the rights and obligations of traditional media to those in the digital sphere.

The same happens with the Law on Advertising, which treats digital advertising equally to all other forms of advertising, making no distinction between an advertising message in traditional or online media.

The media strategy devotes an entire chapter to the development of the media in the digital environment. The proposed measures are primarily concerned with raising the digital competencies of journalists. Without an adequate response, however, issues such as content distribution, billability and removal of content from platforms remain.

This as well as previous similar reports BIRN Serbia makes available to the media, experts and decision-makers, in order to advance the debate on media policies and on the quality of information and the change in professional standards in the digital environment.

BIRN Holds Training on Data Journalism, Digital Security, in Georgia

As part of the project exploring foreign influences in the Balkans, South Caucasus and Central Asia, Balkan Investigative Regional Reporting Network and its partners organized a workshop in Tbilisi, Georgia, to boost skills and foster networking among participants from the three regions.

A three-day training on storytelling, digital security and data journalism took place in the Georgian capital on February 21-23, gathering around 20 journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The workshop is part of the project “Spheres of Influence Uncovered”, jointly implemented by BIRN, German NGO n-ost, Uzbek’s Anhor and Georgian JAMNews media outlets.

The workshop aimed at equipping participants with journalistic knowledge and skills needed not only for the sake of the project – during which they will map foreign influences and produce country-based and cross-border stories – but in their everyday work as well.

During the storytelling training, held by the managing editor of BIRN’s Balkan Insight, Dusica Tomovic, participants learned about what makes a good story, what are major reporting phases and the importance of knowing your audience.

BIRN journalist and digital security trainer Milica Stojanovic walked the participants through security of communication, types of danger, encryption and useful apps. Aleksandra Shalibashvili, a researcher and a project coordination at Tbilisi-based ForSet, an enterprise strengthening change-makers is use of data, design, and technology, talked about using data in an effective manner, must-have data tools as well as data visualization.

Apart from the official training sessions, participants spent time sharing experiences and spotting similarities between their three regions in relation to China, Russia, the EU and other actors. Part of the workshop was also a guided walking tour around Tbilisi, focusing on the various influences on Georgia over time, as well as on the current foreign direct investments and foreign economic activities in the South Caucasus country.

The project “Spheres of Influence Uncovered” aims to contribute to a better understanding of the roles that three key international players – the EU, Russia and China – have on the seven project countries’ economies. In the course of this, participating journalists will map economic activities among these three players and identify the main challenges and consequences for their countries. This project is partly a follow-up on BIRN’s previous work in the sphere of foreign economic activities, explored in the interactive map China in the Balkans.

In the coming months, more skills-building activities will take place in the Balkans and Central Asia, while the first country-based and cross-border long reads are to be published soon.

BIRN Kicks Off Project Strengthening Quality Journalism in Western Balkans and Turkey II

Balkan Investigative Regional Reporting Network BIRN hosted a kick-off meeting for representatives of media organisations and higher education institutions from six Western Balkan countries, Türkiye and Hungary on February 20-23 in Belgrade, Serbia.

In the next three years, BIRN Hub will continue to provide systemic support to improve the quality and professionalism of journalism in the Western Balkans and Türkiye through the project Strengthening Quality Journalism II funded by the European Union.

Together, Central European University, the Association of Journalists from Türkiye, Thomson Media, University Goce Delcev Stip, the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers from North Macedonia, Media Association of South-East Europe from Montenegro and Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Kosovo (BIRN Kosovo) will implement actions to strengthen trust-based engagement between citizens and media, provide resources and support for high-quality content production through education, training, mentoring, and supply editorial support.

Different trainings will be provided to young and mid-career journalists followed by editorial support. At the same time, mainstream and public service media will be included in the project activities, especially oriented towards content production through cross-border collaborations.

Through the already recognized EU awards scheme and the new regional award, the project will promote high standards in investigative journalism. Academia will be involved through different activities, among them working on a Master’s level programme for investigative journalism.

Over the three days, BIRN Hub and its seven partner organizations met and planned project actions that aim to support 600 young and mid-career journalists to produce quality news and conduct investigative reporting, provide journalism training, funds for content production and awards for merits in investigative reporting.

The partners also shared lessons learned from the previous phase of the project implemented over the past four years. In the previous phase, 1,000 journalists enhanced their skills through a set of different tailor-made capacity-building activities and over 1,500 pieces of quality news were produced. Cross-border stories, news, documentaries and investigations were developed and awarded through the EU awards.

This article was created with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of BIRN and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Training for Media on Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism and Reintegration and Resocialization Reporting

On February 20, BIRN Kosovo held one training for central and local media to increase their capacities on R&R (Reintegration and Resocialization) and P/CVE (Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism) reporting.

More specifically, the training focused on the problems that have arisen when reporting on violent extremism and terrorism in Kosovo, including the importance of ethical reporting, media outlets’ hesitation to report on these matters, and how to fight narratives in the battle against violent extremism and terrorism as well as raise public awareness instead of spreading fear, hatred and stigmatization.

The training was delivered by Kreshnik Gashi, editor-in-chief at KALLXO.com, and brought together Mensur Hoti, Director of the Department for Public Safety at the Ministry of Interior, and 11 participants, of whom six were women.

The participants represented different media outlets in Kosovo, including public and national TV, national radios and national portals, such as KOHA, Gazeta Express, Insajderi, Radio Kosova, Demokracia.com and Paparaci, as well students of journalism from the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”.

The training was organized as part of the “Resilient Community Program”, a project that is funded by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).

BIRN Kosovo Hosts Debate on Impact of Fake News and Misinformation on Economy

Over 20 high school students of Hasan Prishtina Economy High School of Prishtina municipality participated in the debate organized by BIRN Kosova on the “Impact of fake news and misinformation on economy”, which took place at this school.

The activity kicked off with the screening of educative reportage “MISINFORMATION IN ECONOMY” and continued with the presentation and discussion of the panel composed by Kreshnik Gashi, Member of the Kosovo Press Council, correspondent of Reporters without Borders for Kosovo and managing editor of KALLXO.com; Lamir Thaçi, Information Officer at Food and Veterinary Agency of Kosovo; Visar Prebreza, Managing Editor at KALLXO.com

The highlight of the debate raised by the panelists comprised of a set of points starting with the fact that the businesses are among the biggest producers of fake news. Whether the news is that the products are dangerous or successful is part of propaganda aimed at increasing or decreasing the purchase of certain product, they said.

The fake news on the economy circulating in recent years in Kosovo included the possible bankruptcy of banks, the danger from some food products and that the market will lack supplies. The fake news was intended to boost sales and harm competition

With the start of the war in Ukraine, fake news intensified and citizens were bombarded with information of a fuel crisis.

Young participants in the debate were advised on how to verify the accuracy of information by identifying which actors are competent to give information on products and other methods that assure deep research and bring true information.

Participants were instructed to share with their peers the knowledge they reached during this activity of reportage followed by a panel discussion.

Thewactivity was carried out within the UNMIK-supported project “Addressing disinformation through fact-checking journalism”.

BIRN Holds National SEE Digital Rights Network Meeting in Serbia

BIRN organised the first National SEE Digital Rights Network meeting for network members from Serbia in Belgrade on February 20.

The event focused on knowledge-sharing and brought together 13 participants from various organisations who explored the possibilities of new partnerships and collaboration in the field of digital rights.

In the first session of the meeting, SHARE Foundation presented the work that the network has implemented so far, including collaborative activities in preparing digital rights-related reports and conducting campaigns such one in October 2022 focusing on cybersecurity.

This was followed by the presentation of an upcoming campaign called ‘Cyber Intimacy’.

The second session featured presentations of the work of network members from Serbia in the digital rights field.

The network members that attended were Partners Serbia, CRTA, YUCOM, Civil Rights Defenders, Share Foundation. They were joined by representatives of potential new members of the network, the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia, Belgrade International Law Circle and BIRN Serbia.

Afterwards, all the participants discussed future steps for the network and tried to find common denominators among members for potential collaborative opportunities.

The participants expressed great interest in contributing to forthcoming network activities and shared their views and recommendations for upcoming collaborations and internal capacity-building.

The meeting ended with an agreement about several activities that will be implemented within the network on the national level in Serbia, while follow-up meetings, including those with regional members of the network, were also announced.

Established in 2020 by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and Share Foundation, SEE Digital Rights Network aims to respond to the challenges of the growing and fast-evolving use of advanced technologies and address data protection concerns and online violations.

This activity was carried out as part of the Mapping Digital Rights Violations and Fighting Disinformation in Central Europe Region project and made possible through support from the UN Democracy Fund.

BIRN Kosovo Hosts Debate on Fake News and Misinformation in Health

Over 20 pupils of Haxhi Zeka Gymnasium in Istog took part in a debate organized by BIRN Kosovo on “Impact of fake news and misinformation on health”.

The activity kicked off with the screening of an educative reportage, “Misinformation in Health”, and continued with the presentation and discussion of the panel.

This was composed by Kreshnik Gashi, member of the Kosovo Press Council and correspondent of Reporters without Borders for Kosovo and managing editor of KALLXO.com; Adnora Nurboja, Director of Regional Centre of Public Health in Peja Municipality; and Visar Prebreza, Managing Editor at KALLXO.com

The panelists discussed the danger of fake news and disinformation in advertising inaccurate information related to health concerns, whether it is advice to take certain medications, proclaiming that they heal certain illness, or to take different teas or medications for weight loss.

The panelists recalled that the distribution of false and unverified information on health was worst during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such “information” raised fear, confusion and doubts about official advice on how to treat COVID-19.

But this trend of spreading fake news in the field of health continues today, panelists said, and is present in the giving out of medications without a doctor’s prescription, but following the preferences of the pharmaceutical industry, which is not only harmful to health but also illegal.

The debate concluded by advising the young audience to be careful about getting their information on various topics, with particular emphasis on health.

Young people were told how to evaluate the information they have access to. They should seek try to understand who the authors of news are and what interest they have in sharing the news. They should research in depth to understand which sources the writing is referring to, and whether they are true or fictitious.

The youngsters participating in this debate expressed great interest in the topic and were active in the discussion, sharing their personal experiences on finding fake news in health-related articles.

This activity was carried out within the UNMIK-supported project, “Addressing disinformation through fact-checking journalism”.

BIRN Sued Over ‘Marijuana Farm’ Court Case Coverage

Predrag Koluvija, who is on trial for alleged illicit marijuana production, accuses BIRN of incorrectly reporting a past case in which he was mentioned, while the media organisation claims he is trying to silence the press.

A preliminary hearing in Predrag Koluvija’s defamation lawsuit against BIRN, claiming that the organisation incorrectly conveyed facts about his past while reporting on his trial for alleged marijuana cultivation, was held at Belgrade Higher Court on Monday.

The lawsuit claims BIRN’s report on a court hearing on September 21 at Belgrade Special Court damaged the reputation of Koluvija, the owner of the Jovanjica company, and caused him mental anguish. He is seeking 200,000 dinars (around 1,700 euros) in damages.

During the hearing in September, the prosecution presented documents from a cannabis-smuggling trial in Hungary in 2011 and 2012, stating that although Koluvija was not charged, his name was mentioned numerous times in connection with the defendants.

BIRN presented the prosecution’s claims, as well as a response from Koluvija’s legal team and Koluvija himself, in detail.

Serbia’s Law on Public Information and Media states that journalists are free to report from court hearings.

“In this case, we have all the elements of a SLAPP lawsuit… In brief, the aim of these lawsuits is not to protect rights, but to intimidate media so they will not report on specific topics or people and thus silence public debate on issues of public interest,” BIRN said in its response to the lawsuit.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, SLAPPs are a “form of legal harassment against critical voices, pursued by powerful individuals and organisations who seek to avoid public scrutiny”, according to a report on SLAPP lawsuits in Serbia published by Article 19, the American Bar Association Centre for Human Rights and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, NUNS in 2022.

“Their aim is to drain the target’s financial and psychological resources and chill critical voices to the detriment of public participation,” the report said.

Koluvija, BIRN editor-in-chief in Serbia Milorad Ivanovic and BIRN journalist Jelena Veljkovic, who wrote the report, are expected to give statements at the next hearing scheduled for May 29.

The case against Koluvija began after police stopped him on the Belgrade-Nis highway in November 2019 for reckless driving and detained him for possessing a false police identity document.

On the same day, police raided his property near Stara Pazova, where the indictment stated they found 1.6 tons of marijuana.

Two indictments were raised in the case – the so-called ‘Jovanjica 1’, which deals with illegal marijuana production, and which is currently in progress, and ‘Jovanjica 2’, which deals with alleged Serbian state security links to the marijuana farm.

Both indictments claim Koluvija is the organiser of a criminal group.

BIRN has been reporting from court since the trial started over two years ago.

Koluvija previously filed two lawsuits against investigative news outlet KRIK over its coverage of the case, seeking around 24,700 euros in damages.

Reporters Without Borders urged the Serbian government in April 2022 to amend its regulations to give journalists protection from SLAPP lawsuits.