Job Description
BIRN’s Investigative Reporting Initiative programme is seeking a dedicated editor who will work closely with BIRN’s editorial team to ensure the quality of BIRN’s investigative work. This remote position is open for any experienced interested editor from anywhere in the world.
Skills
- Relevant experience in producing and/or editing high quality journalism.
- A strong understanding of the current affairs in Southeast and Central Europe, as well as politics, legal systems, and critical issues.
- Ability to meet tight deadlines.
- Ability to work with and manage cross-border teams consisting of different nationalities and different profiles of journalists.
- Efficient in managing and sub-editing copy.
- Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English.
- Good writing skills.
- A highly developed and authoritative judgement of news and current affairs.
- Understanding of law and ethics in relation to publishing and broadcasting in Southeast and Central Europe.
Responsibilities
Working alongside the lead investigations’ editor on the programme, the chosen associate editor will be in charge of:
- selecting journalists for cross-border teams when necessary;
- coordinating the work of investigative journalists and providing them with editorial and mentoring support;
- on the job training of interns (through online training sessions and concrete journalistic assignments);
- pitching new investigative stories, as well as commissioning cross-border and country-based investigations;
- editorial involvement in ongoing projects, such as working on various databases and freedom of information reports;
- arranging the re-publication of the programme’s investigations in regional and international media outlets;
- reviewing pitches and applications that are part of the programme, such as for BIRN’s flagship Summer School of Investigative Reporting;
- contributing to/writing actual investigative reports, alone or in conjunction with other editors/investigative journalists;
- regular (weekly, monthly and ad hoc) meetings with: journalists, other editors and BIRN project/programme teams;
- conducting, developing and guiding journalistic research;
- communicating with lawyers and arranging legal checks of investigations when necessary.
- writing project reports and coordinating other project outputs when needed.
Other duties and responsibilities
- Maintaining appropriate contacts with BIRN country offices and/or personnel, necessary to ensure the proper execution of the abovementioned duties.
- Carrying out any other duties that may reasonably or exceptionally be required to ensure the smooth operation of BIRN’s work, such as substituting for absent colleagues, etc.
- Preparing contracts for journalists/hired agencies such as development agencies and submitting payment requests to BIRN’s financial department.
- Keeping track of programme-related activities that are needed for internal/external verification (such as email correspondence, evaluation forms, photos/screenshots, agendas etc).
Why you should join our team
We said a lot about what we are looking for, but here is what we offer our future colleague:
- A proactive and dynamic working environment;
- Opportunities for professional growth;
- To be part of the award-winning team of journalists and editors
- Travel and participation in BIRN-organised workshops and trainings;
- Empowering experience of working as a part of a large regional organisation with more than 200 employees around the region;
- An opportunity to collaborate with the most prominent investigative outlets in Europe;
- Support for developing and implementing your own ideas.
Who can apply?
BIRN welcomes applications from anywhere in the world. BIRN encourages applicants no matter their gender and offers an equal chance to all interested persons without any prejudice based on any grounds.
How to apply?
To apply for this position, please use the online form from this link.
The call for applications will be active until November 14, 2021. Only shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview. All candidates will receive information on the status of their application.
About BIRN
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is a network of non-governmental organisations promoting freedom of speech, human rights and democratic values in Southern and Eastern Europe. BIRN Hub is a non-governmental organisation, a part of the Regional BIRN Network, working in the field of media development, promoting freedom of speech, human rights and democratic values in Southern and Eastern Europe. BIRN has local organisations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, while the Network is editorially also present in Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. BIRN strives to empower people to access their rights, by providing accurate and relevant information and by creating opportunities for them to participate in democratic processes.
Investigative Reporting Initiative is one of our core programmes dedicated to exposing wrongdoings of powerful individuals and private and public organisations linked to people in power through investigative work. A large part of our work is devoted to training new generations of journalists – especially those interested in investigative journalism – in the Balkans and beyond. We are also focused on freedom of information and transparency in the Balkans, which is why we track these important spheres in our annual reports and work with relevant regional and international stakeholders. Besides, we at BIRN are also working hard to advance the position, power and knowledge of journalists through various online platforms where they can easily communicate, access databases free of charge, find much-needed information, as well as to break the gap between their work and ever-changing technological aspects of today’s world. In that regard, BIRN hosts BIRD Community platform, part of which is BIRD Source, a comprehensive database consisting of more than 3 million documents BIRN decided to share with the general public.