News and Events

Marian Chiriac is BIRN Romania Director. A journalist since 1990, mainly covering politics and human rights issues, in 1999, he became a regular contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), and established BIRN Romania in 2005.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, presented a database of children still being searched for after the 1992-5 war, as well as a documentary, The Unlived Lives, telling a story of three families whose newborn babies disappeared without a trace.

On October 21, BIRN Kosovo organised a meeting in Pristina for local communities, including representatives from civil society organisations (CSOs), media professionals, and students. The meeting aimed to strengthen their capacity to understand digital rights and advance their skills in identifying and protecting these rights.

Two journalists from BIRN Albania have been honoured with the 2025 EU Award for Investigative Journalism in Albania, winning second prize for their outstanding contributions to public-interest reporting.

On October 16, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network organised an event in Sarajevo to foster dialogue on freedom of expression, cybersecurity, and digital rights, and to explore their impact on everyday life. The gathering brought together journalists, media organizations, and representatives of civil society.

Panel discussed the growing trend of platform bans in South-Eastern Europe – and their impact on freedom of expression.

BIRN Serbia Director Dragana Obradovic and an editor of Balkan Insight, Hamdi Firat Buyuk, spoke at the Media Freedom Rapid Response Summit in Brussels.

BIRN Montenegro journalist Ivan Ivanovic won second prize at the EU Award for Investigative Journalism 2025 on Wednesday.

Between October 2025 and January 2026, BIRN will support 15 enthusiastic journalists in conducting investigations and producing journalistic content focused on fact-checking and disinformation.

BIRN’s documentary “Painting in the Darkness”, which tells the story of an artist imprisoned as a political dissident and whose works were confiscated by Albania’s repressive communist regime, was screened on Thursday at the “NNW” International Film Festival in Gdynia, Poland.

Internet Freedom Meet 2025 (IFM 2025) will take place in Pristina, Kosovo, from November 24 to 26. It will bring together experts in the field of digital rights and internet freedoms to exchange, learn and discuss ever-expanding digital rights and freedoms issues.

September 28 is World News Day, a global campaign dedicated to highlighting the importance of fact-based journalism.

Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic is BIRN Serbia’s Director and a Regional Manager of the Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme.

On September 23, 2025, BIRN Kosovo organized a one-day workshop in Prishtina for local civil society organizations (CSOs), aimed at strengthening their capacity to develop monitoring and research projects in the field of terrorism and violent extremism.

From September 8-10, BIRN participated in the Global Gathering 2025 in Portugal, one of the most significant global events bringing together key actors working on digital rights and media freedom.