Category: People

Aleksandar Djordjevic

Aleksandar Djordjevic has worked as a journalist since 2009, mainly covering politics and public finance.

Aleksandar was a local correspondent for the regional website Sumadijapress before joining BIRN in February 2012.

Ever since he has mainly worked in the field of data journalism and investigative journalism, specialising in public finance reporting.

In 2016 he won the first prize within EU Investigative Journalism Awards for Serbia scheme and an award for the best investigative story in print media by the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists and US embassy in Belgrade.

Aleksandar was awarded the best media report on monitoring of public spending in Serbia organized by the United Nations Development Programme. He was also a finalist at the 2012 National Investigative Journalism Award by the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia.

 

Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic

Under Dragana’s leadership, BIRN Serbia has been recognised for its professionalism and its ability to influence the public agenda in the fields of media development and good governance.

With extensive media experience and a strong background in project management, Dragana joined BIRN in February 2006 as a project manager and was promoted to country manager in 2007.

Dragana previously worked on several projects for prominent international organisations, such as the Stability Pact for SEE, Transparency International and the European Agency for Reconstruction, as well as for electronic media.

Dragana studied Comparative Literature at Belgrade University, and further honed her professional skills through numerous trainings and conferences.

Marian Chiriac

Marian Chiriac has worked as a journalist since 1990, mainly covering politics and human rights issues.

He has reported extensively on most major events in Romania and the Balkans. He became a regular contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in 1999, and in 2005 established BIRN Romania.

Sinisa-Jakov Marusic

Sinisa-Jakov Marusic is a Skopje-based journalist and regular contributor to BIRN’s regional publication, Balkan Insight, and the programme Balkan Transitional Justice.

Since 2007, Sinisa has covered Macedonia’s political, social and economic developments, especially those linked to Macedonian post conflict society and transitional justice.

His articles and analysis also appear in other local and international print and electronic media.

In 2007, Sinisa graduated from the Journalism School at the Macedonian Institute for Media, MIM, in Skopje.

He speaks Macedonian, English and German.

Jeton Ispahiu

With international experience in media production, Jeton Ispahiu joined BIRN in 2008. He is responsible for providing video editing and final touches for the Life in Kosovo and Justice in Kosovo television programmes.

Jeton previously worked for various Canadian media companies, including CTV-Winnipeg, where he served as a journalist and video editor between 2004 and 2008.

Jeton graduated with a degree in production from Assinniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada in 2003.

Albulena Sadiku

Albulena Sadiku has a strong professional background in civil society and has spent 15 years working in media management, anti-corruption projects, capacity building, local government and production of field TV debates and reports.

In 2011, Albulena joined BIRN as a Project Manager for fundraising, program management, donor relations and activity management for the organization.

Albulena’s program portfolio includes anti-corruption initiatives to expose malpractice, transparent and unbiased journalism, and monitoring and reporting on public sector performance, especially the spending of public funds.

An experienced field producer of televised parliamentary and local elections programs, Albulena has produced in excess of 300 debates attended by more than 1,000 panelists and watched by over 3 million viewers.

She has actively engaged as a women’s rights campaigner and activist on issues related to women’s property and inheritance rights and the effective participation of women in elections and public institutions. In addition, she is a successful campaigner for Freedom of Information and Access to Public Documents.

In 2005, Albulena began working as a Advocacy Program Manager for the Initiative for Progress Organization (INPO) and in 2009, became the Executive Director, where she served until the end of 2010. Here, Albulena focused on local governance issues, including performance monitoring and evalutation of legislative and executive institutions across six municipalities in Kosovo.

She studied Political Science and English Literature at university and has partaken in relevant courses, including the not-for-profit management course at the Vienna University of Economics and Business’s NGO Academy

Arian Hyseni

Having fostered a passion for Information Technology since the age of nine, Arian Hyseni is accustomed to putting to use the latest innovations in the field.

Arian joined BIRN in February 2008. He is responsible for maintaining the overall network, ensuring the online presence of BIRN products, as well as managing daily tasks in the office.

In 2009, he received the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) accreditation. He is currently enrolled at the University for Business and Technology, UBT, reading Management, Business and Economics.

Besar Likmeta

Besar has extensive experience in journalism, having worked in print, television and electronic media in both the US and Albania since 2003.

Besar has been the editor for BIRN Albania since 2007, and serves as the country correspondent for Balkan Insight.

Besar started his career reporting for the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville, Florida. He moved to Albania in 2005 where he worked as a features editor for the Tirana Times, and a world news editor for the 24 hour news channel TV Ora News.

He has also contributed stories to various publications including The Christian Science Monitor, Global Post, Transitions Online, The Diplomatic Courier and World Politics Review.

In 2009 Besar received the CEI/SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism and in 2010 he was runner up to the Global Shining Light Award, presented at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva. Besar studied philosophy at the University of North Florida.

 

Gordana Igric

Founder of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Regional Network Director until May 2018.

With her Balkan colleagues Gordana helped establish, manage and develop the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. Through her dedication, engagement and careful planning of network establishment, programme objectives and strategies for further development, the organisation has continued to grow since its inception.

Gordana began her career as a journalist in Belgrade in 1981. She reported from Bosnia and Kosovo during the wars that followed the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. From 1998 to 1999, she worked in the field of human rights as Director of Research for the Humanitarian Law Centre (Belgrade), and Kosovo Researcher for Human Rights Watch (New York).

She has received several journalism awards, including the 1998 Overseas Press Club (USA) Award for Human Rights Reporting and a Human Rights Watch Hellman Hammet award in the same year for her research into war crimes in Foca, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Gordana was Balkan project manager at the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, IWPR, from 1999 until August 2005, during which time IWPR’s Balkan reporting received numerous press awards and media citations.

Gordana graduated in 1983 from the University of Belgrade’s School of Political Science, Department of Journalism.

Marija Ristic

Marija Ristic was the executive director of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, a network of seven non-governmental organisations promoting freedom of speech, human rights and democratic values in Southeast and Central Europe. Ristic oversaw the activities and communications within the Network and represented it publicly.

As regional director, Ristic also led the BIRN Hub, which coordinates the BIRN network, dealing with editorial, training, operations and development, as well as developing, fundraising for and coordinating core regional projects. She was also the editor-in-chief for the Network.

Ristic started working for BIRN in 2011 as a journalist, contributing to the regional Balkan Transitional Justice programme. Topics related to war crimes, dealing with the past and human rights have been at the core of her professional development.

In 2015, she produced the award-winning documentary ‘The Unidentified’.

Under her leadership, BIRN won numerous awards, including the European Press Prize, while the Network expended its coverage beyond the Balkans – to Central and South Europe. As a director, Ristic in particular focused on development of digital rights and tech programme, empowerment of local media through capacity building and citizens’ engagement and expansion of human rights focused programmes.

In 2019, Ristic won Press Freedom Award from the Reporters Without Borders.

She graduated magna cum laude from the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the University of Geneva and the University of Belgrade. She was a fellow at the Free University Berlin and Columbia University New York and received numerous awards and scholarships from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the OSCE, the Zoran Djindjic Foundation and the Research Council of Norway. She speaks Serbo-Croatian, English and German and lives between Sarajevo, Belgrade and Berlin.