BIRN Serbia News and Events

A new BIRN report on the state of the media in Serbia notes abuses of funding, lack of pluralism in terms of content, an unclear legislative framework and administrative pressure on independent media as some of the most concerning issues.

A new film by BIRN Serbia, ‘SNS – the start,’ follows the origins and rise of Serbia’s ruling Progressive Party, SNS – and how it became the most powerful political force in the country.

The documentary ‘The Dark Shadow of Green Energy’ by film-maker Dragan Gmizic, co-produced by BIRN Serbia, Al Jazeera Balkans and WWF Adria, was named the best Serbian film at the Belgrade International Green Culture Festival, Green Fest on Tuesday.

BIRN Serbia has submitted its shadow report to the EU Delegation in Serbia as a contribution to the compilation of next European Commission country report on Serbia.

The documentary ‘The Dark Shadow of Green Energy’ by film-maker Dragan Gmizic, co-produced by BIRN Serbia, Al Jazeera Balkans and WWF Adria, has been nominated for an award at the Belgrade International Green Culture Festival ‘Green Fest’, in the Serbian film category.

After BIRN Serbia reported on ruling party officials working illegally at the Medical College in the town of Cuprija, one of them, Aleksandar Martinovic, reported his income from the college, admitting he works there.

BIRN Serbia has partnered with Serbian portal Juzne vesti to offer support for seven selected local portals over the next two years.

BIRN Serbia and more than 40 civil society organisations are calling for the country’s Law on Personal Data Protection to be amended to better protect the public.

Three civil society organisations were selected on June 11 as partners on the ‘Public Money for Public Interest’ project which is being conducted by BIRN Serbia, the Independent Journalism Association of Serbia (IJAS) and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation, funded by the European Union.

Six civil society organisations in Serbia, including BIRN, have prepared a comment and Alternative Report on the findings on freedom of expression and media pluralism in the European Commission’s recently-published Serbia Country Report for 2017.

Directors, board members, partners and donors of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, met in the Romanian capital Bucharest on June 2-3 for the network’s latest regional meeting of its governing bodies.

Monitoring reports produced by BIRN and articles published in its regional publication Balkan Insight continue to be quoted in international reports about media, human rights and politics in the region.

Two BIRN reports have been nominated for this year’s Investigative awards from the Independent Journalistic Association of Serbia in the categories for on-line media.

In 2017, BIRN Network operated in an environment of declining media freedoms and unregulated media markets, where authorities and pro-governmental media outlets pressured members of the Network and its journalists; nevertheless, BIRN received national and international prizes as well as different kinds of informal praise.

Two evaluation workshops, for researchers and local partners in BIRN Serbia’s ‘Public Money for Public Interest’ project, were held from April 19 to April 20 at the Park Hotel in Belgrade.