Together with our partners, BIRN is launching a series of online and offline events aimed to amplify the voices of strong and credible individuals and organisations in the region that promote the core values of democracy, such as civic engagement, independent institutions, transparency and rule of law.
As a primarily media organisation, we want to open space and provide a platform to discuss and reshape our alliances in light of the challenges facing democracies in South-East and Central Europe.
This effort comes at a critical time when the region is seeing several troubling trends: centralized power, reduced transparency, assaults on media, politicized judiciaries, unchecked corruption, online violations and social polarization – all amidst heightened geopolitical tensions and deep divisions in Europe.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, Platform B event series will be organised in accordance with all relevant health measures. As the situation improves, we hope to be able to host some of the events in BIRN spaces in Sarajevo and Belgrade, and elsewhere in the region.
The Platform B will be an opportunity for individuals and groups to meet monthly on selected topics.
Next event: Freedom of Information in the Balkans: Classified, Rejected, Delayed
Date: July 15, 2021 (Thursday)
Time: 2pm-3.30pm, CET
The global pandemic has been used as an excuse for many Balkan states to not fully implement freedom of information laws, leaving the public in the dark.
Transparency has been another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While on paper, freedom of information laws are up-to-date in almost all countries in the region, implementation is patchy at best and has grown worse since governments clamped down on the flow of information with the onset of the coronavirus.
Together with journalists, public information officers and colleagues from Open Government Partnership and Access Info we will reflect on the findings of BIRN’s tracking institutional transparency report and offer recommendations on how to make our institutions open and accountable.
More information and registration.
Upcoming events from August until October:
Power Dynamics in Media: Why Don’t We Have More Women in Top Management Positions?
#metoo in Journalism: When Will Balkan Journalists Speak Up?
Digital Violence and Female Journalists
More information will follow soon.