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You were a baby that grew very fast and became a strong, independent and self-confident woman, holding up a mirror to those in power in and around the Balkans – producing stories based on facts and thorough investigations. Well done!

I had been following and reading you from your first days, when I was working as a Western Balkans correspondent for German-speaking newspapers in Sarajevo from 2005 to 2010. You were always a source of inspiration and of course of reliable information. Thank you for that. Later, when I joined the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland in 2010 and started working in different countries of the region supporting civilian peace-building efforts, I met you again.

You were present everywhere in the region; the cooperation of your correspondents and editors had intensified even more than it had already been the case before. I was impressed by your performance, not only as a reader and consumer, which I already used to be for years, but now also as a partner and representative of one of BIRN’s donor countries, Switzerland. This immediately put me in a dilemma. In Berne, capital of Switzerland, my colleagues at the Ministry were often confused because they thought that I was speaking about them when mentioning BIRN. Berne and BIRN sound the same in English! That created funny confusion so many times.

So, dear BIRN, you have become and will remain the Balkans BIRN for me – also in terms of pronunciation – although your stories are also published in English and therefore reach many people outside the Balkans as well. This is good and much wanted. Both audiences need BIRN: those who read, listen to and watch your stories in one of the Balkan languages but also those all over the world who want to be informed about what is going on in and around the Balkans.

One more thing is great with you among many others, a thing that makes you unique. You were founded and have been led by female directors over all these years. This is unique not only in the Balkans but probably worldwide. In addition to that, so many women, side by side with equally talented male colleagues, contribute as professionals to your success every day. Congratulations!

Dear BIRN, I commend and thank you for being what you are: an invaluable contribution to a better-informed society in the Balkans and a better-informed world about the Balkans. This helps connecting people and ideas! Your independent voice is needed more than ever. Happy birthday, BIRN!

The Author is currently working for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland in Kyiv, Ukraine

BIRN directors and media experts highighted the main obstacles to media freedom in the region and offered their own recommendations on how to improve the situation at the regional conference of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, entitled “Media Freedom Challenges”, on Friday in Sarajevo.

“It is not just media freedom that has been in regression in the Western Balkans over the past years but democracy as well. Each year things get worse, bit by bit, which calls for immediate action before it is too late,” Florian Beiber, from the University of Graz, said.

Beiber presented a list of recommendations to governments in the region to improve the situationof the media. They include stronger legal protection for journalists and curbing the practice of offering them only short term contracts, which keep people working in the media on a tight leash.

A moratorium was also proposed on state advertising, in order to reduce state influence and interference with the editorial policies of media outlets.

Another key recommendation was to establish clearer rules determining the ownership and the finances of media outlets – transparency issues – and prevent monopolies.

Regarding state broadcasters, clearer rules to ensure their independent funding and functioning were urged as a way to keep them out of the hands of governments.

Turning to hate speech and abuse of marginalized groups in the media, better training on hate speech as well as strengthening the power of the courts to tackle such issues was proposed.

The recommendations are a joint drive by more than 30 media professionals and experts who gathered in Sarajevo on Thursday at a regional freedom of expression workshop to discuss: working rights; the state funding of the media and public broadcasters; the the media market; transparency of media ownership; the representation of vulnerable and marginalised groups in the media.

The suggestions presented in Sarajevo will become part of a broader package of recommendations from the civil society sector that will be presented at the Western Balkans Summit in Vienna in August.

The summit will continue the so-called Berlin Process, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel initiated last August to demonstrate the EU’s ongoing commitment to enlargement..

BIRN country directors agreed that media freedom was in retreat in their own countries. This can be seen through examples of smears, acts of intimidation, campaigns against independent media and journalists, physical attacks on and threats to journalists, and lawsuits, they said.

David Hudson, from the European Commission, told the conference that Brussels plans to change the methodology of assessing the freedom of the media in the annual progress reports on the Western Balkan countries.

“The new methodology will be more precise, evaluating achievements of governments in key areas on a five-point scale. It will provide an objective comparison is the country prepared and to what degree for membership.

“We have introduced a degree of competition between governments, so that each country can see where it is compared to the region. We hope this will spur reforms,” Hudson said.

He warned that the EU’s leverage in the Western Balkans was not unlimited and depended on the strength of the desire of governments to move the EU accession process forward.

The conference saw a video message by the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, in which he congratualted BIRN on its first decade and said that media freedom in the Balkans remained “of particular concern” to the European Commission – particularly the issues of government interference and threats to the independence of public broadcasters.

“We face important challenges that need to be addressed urgently,” Hahn said.

“Apart from government interference, more efforts are needed to ensure the political and financial independence of public service broadcasters, the strength and independence of regulatory agencies and faster functional self-regulation,” he said.

“There is also need to tackle informal economic pressure on the media. This includes transparency of media ownership and preventing of its excessive concentration. Last but not least, transparent roles on the procurement of government advertising have to be in place.”

The Commissioner said he would keep pushing governments in the region on these issues.

The “Media Freedom Challenges” conference is a part of BIRN’s 10th anniversary celebration.

“This day is very emotional for us. Ten years ago, a handful of people met in this town [Sarajevo] and agreed to form BIRN on the shared belief that we should nurture good journalism, and work to change something,” BIRN’s regional network director, Gordana Igric, said in her address to the conference.

Ten years on from those humble beginnings, the BIRN network employs over 200 journalists and media professionals.

The organisation also musters more than 300 associates, including journalists, experts and civil society groups.

BIRN today has a presence across the Balkan region, with country-based organizations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, as well as correspondents in Montenegro, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece and occasionally Moldova.

Hahn said on Friday that media freedom in the Balkans “remains of particular concern” to the European Commission – particularly the issues of government meddling and threats to the independence of public broadcasters. 

“We face important challenges that need to be addressed urgently,” Hahn said in a video address to BIRN’s regional media conference in Sarajevo.

“Apart from government interference more efforts are needed to ensure the political and financial independence of public service broadcasters,strength and independence of regulatory agencies and faster functional self-regulation,” he said.

The EU commissioner said that he would keep pushing governments in the region to make progress.

“There is also need to tackle informal economic pressure on the media. This includes transparency of media ownership and preventing of its excessive concentration. Last but not least, transparent roles on the procurement of government advertising have to be in place,” he said.

Hahn said that freedom of expression and the media are at the core of the EU integration process.

“Free speech and an informed, professional press are essential for democratic society, they are fundamental to the choices that citizens make about the future of the country,” he said.

“Without them, the public cannot weigh up options or judge the leaders; without them, dangerous prejudices and misperceptions grow, which undermine chances of peace and stability,” he added.

The regional media conference, entitled ‘Media Freedom Challenges’, is being held as part of the celebrations of BIRN’s 10^th anniversary.

“I’m personally committed to congratulate and thank BIRN for its precious contribution and efforts in terms of freedom of expression and media in the Balkans,” Hahn said.

“You know far better than I the power of freedom of expression and media and the complex threats it faces in your countries. In this respect, supporting professional journalism and journalist training is of key importance. With its aim to build and strengthen a dedicated, close-knit team of journalists across the Balkans, BIRN acts as strong partner in the region offering an impressive variety of services,” he added.

BIRN’s directors and media experts gathered in the Bosnian capital to discuss crucial issues affecting the sector.

The conference also came up with a list of recommendations to the governments in the Balkans to improve the media situation in the region.

The recommendations are a joint effort by more than 30 media professionals and experts who gathered in Sarajevo the day beforehand at a regional freedom of expression workshop to discuss labour rights, state funding of media and public broadcasters, the media market, transparency of media ownership and the representation of vulnerable and marginalised groups.

The experts gathered in Sarajevo as a part of the Western Balkan Civil Society Forum, a joint project of the ERSTE Foundation, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Karl Renner Institute, in close cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.

The Western Balkan Civil Society Forum offers a unique opportunity to civil society representatives from south-eastern Europe to voice their opinions and formulate concrete demands for high representatives of the European Union, its member states and the governments of the countries of the Western Balkans.

The suggestions that will be presented in Sarajevo will become part of a broader package of recommendations from civil society at the Vienna Western Balkans Summit, which will be held in August.

The summit is a continuation of the so-called ‘Berlin Process’ which was initiated in August 2014 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to show further political commitment to the future enlargement of the European Union into the Western Balkans.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network’s regional media conference, entitled ‘Media Freedom Challenges’, will be held on Friday June 12, in Sarajevo, where BIRN’s directors and media experts will debate the main obstacles to media freedom in the Balkans.

“Media across the region are in complete slavery to both business and politicians. In some countries the situation is alarming,” said Gordana Igric, BIRN Regional Network Director.

“I believe it is important to look at the regional picture. Some of the problems are specific, but some are common all over the Balkans. In order to deal with them, we need a unique, joint initiative,” Igric said.

Johannes Hahn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, will address the participants via video message, while Florian Bieber, a professor at the University of Graz, will present a list of recommendations to Balkan governments to improve the media situation in the region.

The recommendations are a joint effort by more than 30 media professionals and experts who gathered in Sarajevo the day beforehand at a regional freedom of expression workshop to discuss labour rights, state funding of media and public broadcasters, the media market, transparency of media ownership and the representation of vulnerable and marginalised groups.

BIRN Celebrates 10th Anniversary The regional media conference ‘Media Freedom Challenges’ is a part of BIRN’s 10th anniversary celebration. BIRN has a presence across the Balkan region, with country-based organisations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. For editorial purposes, it also has a network of journalists and editors in Montenegro, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece and occasionally Moldova. The organisation has a wide media presence – online, in print, on TV, and on radio. BIRN’s flagship website, www.BalkanInsight.com, one of 15 sites in different languages that BIRN runs, is read in more than 200 countries worldwide. Key issues in the Balkans that BIRN has identified include lack of freedom of expression, loss of media independence, lack of good governance, an absence of anti-corruption efforts, poor access to justice and rights and civil society organisations’ inability to address issues of public interest.

Some of the experts who took part in drafting the recommendations were Remzi Lani from the Albanian Media Institute, Asja Roksa Zubcevic from the Bosnian Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications, Sasa Lekovic, the president of Croatian Journalists’ Association, Sami Kurteshi, Kosovo’s Ombudsperson, Dejan Georgievski from the Macedonian Centre for Media development, and Tatjana Jakobi from the Serbian Centre for the Development of Trade Unionism.

The experts gathered in Sarajevo as a part of the Western Balkan Civil Society Forum, a joint project of the ERSTE Foundation, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Karl Renner Institute, in close cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.

The Western Balkan Civil Society Forum offers a unique opportunity to civil society representatives from south-eastern Europe to voice their opinions and formulate concrete demands for high representatives of the European Union, its member states and the governments of the countries of the Western Balkans.

The suggestions that will be presented in Sarajevo will become part of a broader package of recommendations from civil society at the Vienna Western Balkans Summit, which will be held in August.

The summit is a continuation of the so-called ‘Berlin Process’ which was initiated in August 2014 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to show further political commitment to the future enlargement of the European Union into the Western Balkans.

The regional media conference, entitled ‘Media Freedom Challenges’, is being held as part of the celebrations of BIRN’s 10th anniversary.

To see the full interview, follow this link.

I remember the first nervous decisions we took in an out-of-season hotel on Bjelasnica mountain to set up our own organisation; how we descended on Dragana’s summer house in Boka Kotorska to thrash out plans for a documentary on Kosovo’s future, something that may not seem so ambitious now, but when you remember how little infrastructure we had then, was really quite audacious; and how I seemed to be constantly on the road, going from capital to capital, and embassy to embassy, looking for funding to get us up and running.

In those first few years, we all did anything and everything we could to realise our ambition to set up an outlet for quality journalism that would inform both locally and internationally on the most important issues facing the Balkan region. It was hard, hard work, and there was little room for anything else.

After three years, first as director of BIRN’s regional hub, and latterly in charge of getting the Fellowship up and running, I decided to move on.

Although my aim then was to achieve better balance in my life, somehow to this day I still find myself regularly deep in excel spreadsheets and funding applications at ungodly hours. Maybe that’s the BIRN effect: once you have realised how hard you can push yourself, and what this can achieve, it is difficult to stop stepping up to the plate and striving for the best.