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Seminar in Berlin – Preparations Underway

This year’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence will get underway officially at an introductory seminar and training session in Berlin, a week-long event, starting on April 27^th. The ten fellows from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia will be hosted by the Robert Bosch Stiftung one of the partners in the programme.

The fellows will participate in training sessions aimed at giving them a broad understanding of international standards of journalism, with a special focus on the fact checking process and an insight into the research and editorial stages of their projects. They will have the opportunity to exchange information, opinions and views on this year’s theme – ‘Taboo’

In one-on-one sessions with BIRN editors, they will present their ideas and explore their planned research and the aims of their project. After the Seminar, and in the forthcoming months, they will complete their research trips which will take them throughout the region and the EU. The programme will culminate with an awards ceremony in November in Vienna, where the independent selection committee will present awards to the authors of the three winning articles. Each year, all the fellows articles are widely re-published, both locally and internationally.

Regional Conference “Balkan, Media and Culture – Time for Change”

The regional conference “Balkan, Media and Culture – Time for Change” will be held on April 20, 2010 at the Kaproš hotel in Skopje, as part of the three-year project “Balkan Initiative for Cultural Cooperation, Exchange and Development” – BICCED, which will be implemented by the Balkan Investigative Regional Reporting Network and its partners, and funded by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans (SCP).

The conference will be the opening event for the BICCED project, which aims to build a network of journalists and cultural organisations from the region, to focus on common cultural policy issues with the aim of reaching both the wider public and policy makers, and to contribute to the change and development of cultural policies both locally and regionally.

The conference will help in the preparation of an editorial strategy and the establishment of links between cultural organisations, experts and journalists from across the region, and several participants will be invited to form an advisory board, whose role will be to provide input into editorial strategy at annual meetings over the project’s three-year life cycle.

Among the participants of the conference will be representatives of the Ministry of Culture of Macedonia, the Swiss Embassy/Swiss Cooperation Office in Skopje and the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans, as well as approximately 20 representatives of cultural institutions/organisations from the region, and ten journalists selected for the first year of the project implementation.

The first part of the conference (Regional Cultural Policy – Exploring the Challenges), which will be open to media, will give a general overview of cultural policies in the region and the main problems facing cultural organisations. The second part of the conference will be closed to the public and will consist of two moderated brainstorming sessions (What to report on and Networking strategy – using formal and informal communication tools to influence policy makers and opinion formers across the region).

Speakers at the conference include Professor Primo Shllaku (Observatory of Culture, Tirana), Nihad Kresevljakovic (Festival MESS, Sarajevo), Vesa Sahatciu (Art critic, Pristina), Zlatko Teodosievski (Nova linija/Compendium, Skopje) and Hristina Mikic (Lecturer at theUniversity of Belgrade and the Higher School for Business Studies Novi Sad/Compendium, Novi Sad).

Among the participants of the conference are Piro Misha (publisher, Tirana), Mladen Bundalo (artist, Tac.ka, Prijedor), Veton Nurkollari (Dokufest, Prizren), Vala Osmani (Stacion), Darka Radosavljevic-Vasiljevic (Remont, Belgrade), Silvia Drazic (Art Clinic/Initiative Za kulturne politike, Novi Sad), Robert Alagjozovski (cultural operator, journalist and art critic, Skopje), Biljana Tanurovska-Kjulavkovski (Lokomotiva, Skopje), as well as representatives of several other cultural institutions and organisations from Skopje.

Guests participants include Dea Vidovic (Kulturpunkt, Zagreb), who will present Croatian experiences in networking in order to make changes in cultural policy, and Veronika Ratzenböck (Kulturdokumentation.internationales archiv für kulturanalysen, Wien) as observer.

All sessions will be moderated by Gordana Igric (BIRN Regional Director), Dusica L.I. Cook (BIRN Project Manager) and Vesna Milosavljevic (SEEcult.org Director), and be followed by questions from the floor and discussion. The working language of the conference is English.

The expected outcomes will be action points and recommendations for further development of the project.

Please, find the attached Agenda.

International Forum on South Serbia Kicks Off

BIRN has organised a high-profile conference and open debate today in Belgrade on the further development of South Serbia and possibilities for the increased integration of ethnic Albanians into Serbian state institutions.

The conference is entitled ‘South Serbia: From Frozen Conflict to Sustainable Solutions: Opportunities for Long-Term Integration and Development of the Region’.

The Forum is organised under the auspices of the British Embassy in Belgrade and the Balkan Fund for Democracy on the occasion of the first anniversary of the reinstatement of the Coordinating Body for South Serbia.

Participants in the forum include: Stephen Wordsworth, UK ambassador to Serbia; Mary Burce Warlick, U.S. ambassador to Serbia; Milan Markovic, Serbian minister for state governance and local self-governance; Riza Halimi, member of the Serbian parliament; Vincent Degert, head of the EU Delegation to Serbia; and Dimitrios Kypreos, ambassador of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The southern Serbia municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja are home to Serbia’s largest ethnic Albanian population outside of Kosovo and are among the least developed in Serbia. High unemployment rates and an average wage lower than the state average of about 350 euros are two of the many challenges facing the area.

In 2000 and 2001 the region was the scene of an armed conflict between state security forces and local ethnic Albanian militants in the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

The aim of the forum is to provide a platform for the participation of all interested parties and allow them to take part in a discussion on the opportunities for fostering stability and development in South Serbia, with particular reference to the work of the Coordinating Body of the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja and the establishment of a National Minority Council.

Life in Kosovo debates the energy strategy

This Thursday, Life in Kosovo debates the energy strategy in Kosovo for the period of 2009-2018.

Is the energy strategy, approved last week by the Parliament of Kosovo, a good choice? What will happen with the power plant Kosovo B? What’s the future of the mine at Sibovc? What are the arguments for and against this nine-year strategy? What are the real benefits for the state of Kosovo?

To discuss these and other related issues regarding the strategy, the following guest joined Muhamet Hajrullahu in the studio:

Justina Shiroka-Pula, Minister of Energy and Mining
Myzejene Selmani, head of the Commission for Trade, Energy and Telecommunications
Luan Shllaku, from the KFOS-Kosovo Foundation for Open Society
Visar Kelmendi, from the energy sector

During the show, BIRN will broadcast an interview by the journalist Petrit Collaku with the KFOR General, Markus Bentler, on the role of KFOR in Kosovo and the future mission of the Kosovo Security Force.

Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.

TV Justice Doubles its Ratings on State Television

According to TV ratings data, three months after the TV Justice show was first broadcast, its ratings on Radio and Television Bosnia and Herzegovina, RTVBiH, have doubled.

TV Justice is a 30-minute monthly magazine produced by BIRN journalists and FLASH Production team members. The show has been broadcast by RTVBiH and more than 15 independent TV stations via local and satellite channels since January 4.

In addition to reports on the work of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are regularly produced by BIRN, TV Justice has featured a report on Foca Prison and an interview with Gojko Jankovic, who is serving a 34-year sentence for crimes committed in Foca municipality.

In the second issue we reminded our viewers of the anniversary of the massacre at Markale market place in Sarajevo in 1994. The third issue of TV Justice covered the continuation of the trial of Radovan Karadzic before the Hague Tribunal.

In addition, the show has hosted Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Barasin, Chief Prosecutor with the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Patrick Robinson, President of the Hague Tribunal.

TV Justice is available on BIRN’s web page (www.bim.ba) with English subtitles, making it accessible to BiH citizens living abroad as well as foreigners interested in war-crimes trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The production of TV Justice magazine is generously supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office via the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Sarajevo, the Swiss Federal Office for Foreign Affairs, and the National Endowment for Democracy.

For additional information on TV Justice magazine please contact us by e-mail at [email protected]

Training of Journalists from Local Communities Begins

The Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in collaboration with USAID’s Judicial Sector Development Programme, has begun a four-month training course for 30 journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina reporting on war-crimes trials conducted before cantonal and district courts.

At the first training session, held on March 30 and 31, journalists had a chance to familiarize themselves with the work of the State Court and its Prosecution and to learn the importance of respecting fundamental journalistic principles in writing trial reports.

Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that from the very beginning of the work on war-crimes cases State Court judges have been aware of the influence of the media and the importance of presenting correct information, because this “contributes to building general trust in society”.

“Trials are misused in everyday political disputes,” Kreso said. “In order to avoid this, we have to convey correct information. This is why the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has opened itself to all media outlets.”

Selma Hadzic of the State Court Public Relations Section explained the organizational structure of the Court and court proceedings, citing major war-crimes trials that have been completed before the Court.

Local community journalists visited the premises of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to courtrooms, they had an opportunity to visit the Witness Support Section. Representatives of the Section spoke about its work at the training session, explaining that the Section offers support to vulnerable and protected witnesses.

Zlatko Knezevic, a member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, explained the process of selecting judges and prosecutors working with judicial institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Vesna Budimir, Chief of the War Crimes Section with the State Prosecution, briefed journalists on the problems prosecutors face, stressing the need for better cooperation with the media.

“Journalists can criticize us when we make a mistake or do something that is not consistent with our responsibilities, but the criticism should be based on evidence,” Budimir said.

The training of journalists will continue on April 27 and 28, 2010, when practical details will be tackled – ways of court reporting, possibilities for obtaining information, most frequent mistakes and rules that have to be followed in court reporting.

The goal of the course is to train journalists in reporting on war-crimes trials conducted before courts in their local communities, as the transfer of “less sensitive cases” for further processing by cantonal and district courts as well as Brcko District Court has begun.

At the upcoming training sessions journalists will be given an opportunity to develop court reporting skills aligned with international and domestic codices and become certified court reporters in their media outlets.

Balkan Fellowship 2010 Results

We are very pleased to announce the names of the ten journalists selected for the 2010 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. This year’s competition was very tight as proposals received depicted the most interesting taboo issues throughout the Balkans. The Selection Committee has chosen the ten most exciting, interesting and relevant proposals from the 150 ideas submitted by journalists from across the region.

The chosen journalists are:

Ervin Qafmolla from Albania
Mila Popova from Bulgaria
Doroteya Nicolova from Bulgaria
Robert Tomic from Croatia
Jeton Musliu from Kosovo
Majlinda Aliu from Kosovo
Ruzica Fotinovska from Macedonia
Mircea Opris from Romania
Georgiana Ilie from Romania
Ivan Angelovski from Serbia

These journalists will now become members of a growing network for journalistic excellence in the Balkans, receiving the mentoring of internationally recognized experts during their own research in order to produce the best in-depth articles with the possibility of world wide promotion and syndication. The initial phase includes an intensive programme of training, research and reporting, beginning with a week-long seminar in Berlin on April 27^th and culminating in an awards ceremony at the end of the year in Vienna.

Updates on the fellows’ progress will be posted on the site regularly.

BIRN Attends ICMP Meeting

BIRN Justice Report journalist Merima Husejnovic attended a meeting in Tuzla with representatives of associations of missing persons’ families from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons.

Almost 40 representatives of non-governmental organizations and associations of missing persons’ families gathered in Tuzla on March 22 and 23, 2010, with the aim of receiving information about the ICMP’s work and reviewing possibilities for mutual cooperation.

Meeting participants visited the Identification and Coordination Center, ICD, and Podrinje Identification Project, PIP, location, where they were briefed on the process and results of the ICMP’s long-term work on finding missing people.

At this meeting, representatives of missing people’s families conveyed critical comments on the work of Bosnian authorities, whom they accuse of neglecting their needs over a period of years.

“If we have been talking about the issue for 18 years and nobody is listening, it may be time to stop talking. There is obviously some problem in relations between the associations and the Government,” Fatima Fazlic, President of “Izvor” Association from Prijedor, said.

Participants criticized the fact that the Law on Missing People of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted at the end of 2004, is not being implemented. All the participants acknowledged that this meeting was the first in a series of meetings and it “scratched the surface of the problem that have faced families of missing people for years”.

“All meetings and conferences conclusions are identical. Nothing has been implemented year after year. This is an attempt to try to make some changes by establishing a partnership between non-governmental organizations and associations,” Klaudija Kuljuh, ICMP Coordinator for the Western Balkans, said.

Merima Husejnovic presented BIRN’s long established reporting on war crimes, which would not be possible without cooperation with associations of victims’ families from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She said she hoped this cooperation would continue.

Belgrade meeting as a part of BICCED

Outdated laws in the field of culture, delays in adopting new legislation a lack of transparency, insufficient budget for cultural activity, partitocracy in cultural institutions – election of leaders based on political affiliation rather than expertise, a lack of tax benefits for investment in culture, poor regulations of the art market, vague criteria for the award of funds finance in ‘open competition’, a lack of long term financing for projects and institutions, marginalisation of productions in the independent cultural scene. These were the key problems identified at an informal meeting on February 22nd, with representatives of a dozen of cultural institutions and organisations from Belgrade. The meeting was hosted by BIRN as part of the BICCED project (Balkan’s Initiative for Cultural Cooperation, Exchange and Development), which is supported by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans.

Participants also pointed out the division amongst key cultural organisations and opinion-formers, making joint activity or collective pressure on government and funding bodies almost impossible, and the chronic lack of interest from the media in culture in general and the problems faced by cultural organisations.

Among the participants were Aleksandar Lazarevic from the Centre for Study in Cultural Development (ZAPROKUL), an institution which itself works in the field of cultural policy, Darka Radosavljevic from the Independent Artistic Association Remont, Dragoslav Krnajski from the Initiative committee of the members of Association of Fine Artists of Serbia, Sladjana Novakovic form the Rende publishing house, Jelena Knezevic from the Bitef Theatre and BITEF festival, Jelena Vesic from the Prelom collective and informal network of independent organisations Other Scene (Druga scena), Ana Lukovic from the Ebart Media Documentation, as well as Vesna Milosavljevic from the SEEcult.org portal for culture, one of BIRN’s partners in the BICCED project.

The meeting was held as part of the preparatory phase of the BICCED project, which provides for training of journalists from the region of Western Balkans in analytical reporting on cultural policies. Three separate groups of journalists will be trained over the course of the three year programme. The issues discussed by these key opinion-formers in the cultural scene, will serve as a basis for defining the editorial strategy of the projects and topics looked into by the journalists engaged in the project.

A similar meeting was recently held in Sarajevo, and others are planned in Pristina, Skopje and Tirana to provide a region-wide view in preparation for a conference on cultural policies and media to be held on April 20th in Skopje. The first group of ten journalists chosen for the programme will attend the conference alongside experts and practitioners in the field of culture in the region.

Candidate short-listing underway

Balkan Fellowship team members are engaged in selecting the best candidates for this year’s programme, on the topic of ‘Taboo’. The exact number of eligible applications received per country is the following: Serbia 42, Romania 27, Croatia 19, Bulgaria 15, Albania 12, Bosnia & Herzegovina 10, Kosovo 6, Macedonia 6, and Montenegro 6.

This year, candidates have focused on categories such as religion, national identity, poverty & health issues, domestic violence, technology, as well as political & economic issues, among others. The final results will be announced on March 25th on our website while all candidates will be individually informed about the results of the fourth annual competition for the Balkan Fellowship.

The Selection Committee will be in charge of choosing the journalists for this year’s programme. The International Selection Committee consists of six permanent members from the media community in the Balkans, Austria and Germany, as well as one annual member, who is an expert on this year’s Fellowship theme.

Ten journalists will have the opportunity to participate in the program, receiving funding and professional support to conduct research in the region and the EU. At the end of the 7-month long program, the international commission will award prizes of 4.000, 3.000, and 1.000 Euros to the authors of the top three best articles.