On January 27, journalists from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina attended an online fact-checking training session, which focused on practical demonstrations of tools that journalists can use to produce fact-checked content.
Participants were introduced to journalistic verification tools, including crowd counting with Mapchecking, face recognition with Pimeyes, and email verification with Hunter.io. They also learned about tools for photograph and time verification, such as TinEye, RevEye, Yandex and Suncalc. Trainers demonstrated how to apply these tools in content production, enabling journalists to use them immediately after the training.
The session also featured a presentation of BIRD, a digital platform developed by BIRN that serves as an investigative tool and facilitates experience and document sharing among investigative journalists. This innovative interactive platform is designed for journalists who want to stay current with rapidly evolving technology while maintaining ethical standards and professional journalism practices. Participants were introduced to the BIRD Directory, which is a database of expert contacts across various fields from the six Western Balkan countries.
The online training was conducted by Ivana Jeremic and Kreshnik Gashi. Jeremic is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in digital rights, organised crime investigations, public fund misuse and AI impact. She has served as a fact-checker at OCCRP since 2013 and as an External Assessor at the International Fact-Checking Network since 2017. Her awards include the European Press Prize, the Anthony Lewis Prize and the Balkan Fact-checking Award.
Kreshnik Gashi, editor-in-chief of KALLXO.com, is a law graduate who has won over 20 journalistic prizes for his in-depth corruption investigations. Since joining BIRN in 2012, he has produced more than 300 investigative TV programmes and about 1,000 investigative articles. His work has led to significant outcomes, including the arrest and charging of over 10 prosecutors and judges, the arrest of more than 30 police officers, and 10 corruption indictments against public officials, including ministers and mayors.
This training is part of the Western Balkans Media for Change Project, funded by the UK government and implemented by the British Council in partnership with BIRN, the Thomson Foundation, and INTRAC. The project supports media outlets and individual journalists throughout the Western Balkans.