Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
Jetmir Hoxha was first hired as an intern in August 2019.
Through hard work and dedication, he managed to become a junior camera operator and editor in the BIRN Kosovo team. Hoxha has completed economics school and has a passion for football and cameras.
Fatrion Ibrahimi started his career as a camera operator at KTV in Prishtina in 2009, before working for four years as a freelancer in collaboration with various local and international productions.
He has also participated in many shoots of an artistic nature, including documentary films, long and short films, etc. Ibrahimi joined the BIRN Kosovo team in 2016.
Altin Morina has completed the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) training at the American University of Kosovo (AUK) and is pursuing his bachelor’s studies in Management and Informatics at ILIRIA College.
From a young age, he has had a passion for technology and the latest technologies. He currently works as an IT Officer at BIRN Kosovo.
Fjori joined Balkan Insight in February 2021 as a correspondent in Albania. She is based in Tirana and responsible for daily news as well as in-depth stories and analysis.
Previously, she worked for a local media outlet in Albania focusing on investigations and human rights. She was part of Resonant Voice Fellowship in 2020 by BIRN.
Fjori studied journalism at the University of Tirana.
Eleni Stamatoukou is Balkan Insight’s correspondent in Greece, writing on current affairs and producing features, analyses, reviews, interviews and investigations.
Eleni joined BIRN Hub in 2021 as Communications Manager. She is a data journalist based in Athens. She has worked for Greek and foreign media and the NGO SolidarityNow.
She has covered a big range of issues: migration, the refugee crisis, corruption, LGBTI and human rights, politics, business, sports, media, environment, health and culture.
Eleni was a Fellow of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and Columbia Journalism School 2019.
She has a BA in Balkan Studies from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and an MA in Social Anthropology (Europe) from Sussex University, United Kingdom.
She speaks Greek, English, Turkish and Serbian.
Karla joined BIRN in 2021 to coordinate work of local media outlets in the region who write investigative stories using the Engagement Citizens’ Reporting tool.
Before joining BIRN she wrote for VoxFeminae, and was part of the international affairs newsroom in Jutarnji list, Globus and Euractiv Croatia. Since 2020 she has been based in London as a correspondent.
After studying French and Russian literature at the University of Trieste, Karla decided to continue her Masters in Journalism at the Faculty of political sciences in Zagreb. Besides Croatian, she is fluent in Italian, English and French.
Aida joined BIRN Hub in 2021 as a Project/Programme Assistant. She is currently working as Grants and Project Coordinator, based in BIRN Hub’s office in Sarajevo. Her primary responsibilities entail coordinating and implementing project activities and overseeing and coordinating the grants allocation process.
Before joining BIRN Hub, Aida was a long-term associate of the Sarajevo Open Center, as an author of articles and infographics dealing with the problems and needs that LGBTI people and other marginalized social groups in Bosnia face. She also worked as an author of articles for Balkansmedia.org, which supports media independence and freedom of expression in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Covering new tools and various techniques that journalists can use in their everyday work, the aim of the articles was to raise the quality of media content and build the competencies of journalists.
Aida gained diverse experience in several non-governmental organizations, working on cultural and creative industries projects, strengthening local self-government, and projects related to culture and art. For two-and-a-half years, she worked in Gallery 11/07/95 as a curator, where she had an opportunity to professionally explore and enhance the possibilities of museums’ educational function, which is one of her passions.
Aida graduated in Art History and Pedagogy from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo.
In 2023, she obtained the title of Certified New Media Designer, from the ITAcademy, International School for Education and Informatics.
Besides BCS languages, she is fluent in English.
After working in different roles in BIRN from 2013, with some breaks, Milka assumed the role of Regional Director in December 2022.
Prior to that, from October 2021, Milka held the position of Head of Business and lead and oversaw development of both non-profit and for-profit projects, maintaining existing and establish new partnerships.
Milka also worked as a lead researcher designing and implementing one of BIRN’s major regional projects, pioneering engagement journalism in the Balkans. She was in charge of development of the Engaged Citizens Reporting tool, used by more than 50 media in the Southeast Europe.
In addition, Milka has a decade of experience in journalism and fact checking, having worked for the fact-checking portal Istinomer [Trutho-meter], the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia and Serbia’s public broadcaster. She previously worked as a journalist and translator for BIRN’s programme Balkan Transitional Justice, as well as a fixer for international media. She participated in the fellowship programme run by the International Factchecking Network, which she spent within the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact.
Milka was a Chevening scholar and completed an MSc in Marketing and Technology at Goldsmiths, University of London, which helped her improve her research and analytical skills, as well as discover new potential for successful media outreach.
Along with the native BCMS, she speaks English and has basic knowledge of French, Macedonian and German.
Samir is based in Podgorica and covers stories from Montenegro as well as parts of regional investigative stories.
Previously, he worked as a journalist and editor at the Montenegrin daily newspaper Vijesti. In 2018, he became a correspondent for Balkan Insight.
He studied at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade and completed the Danish School of Journalism at Montenegro Media Institute.
Samir speaks Serbian, English and Albanian.
Based in Sarajevo, Tommaso joined BIRN in 2022. He is part of the Social Media team, taking care of BIRN’s social media channels in English.
Tommaso is a founder of FuoriFuoco, a network of under-25-year-old journalists covering Lake Como in Italy. He worked for five years as a journalist for “il Settimanale della Diocesi di Como”, a local weekly mostly covering environmental, educational and civil society-related topics.
Tommaso holds a Bachelor degree in political science from Università degli Studi di Milano. He speaks Italian, English, Norwegian and just a bit of Bosnian.
