Tag: BIRN Summer School

 

The fourth day of BIRN’s Summer School Master Class of Investigative Journalism in the historic town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday started with a session on pitching story ideas, run by Blake Morrison, lead trainer and investigative projects editor at Reuters.

Blake explained how stories can be pitched to editors without overpromising while bearing in mind all the possible outcomes.

“As reporters, you’ll have real highs and real lows, and we have a job to even them up… Sometimes as investigative reporters we dig a dry well and that’s normal. But nevertheless, we aim to have less of them,” he told the participants.

“Sometimes you work on a story that just doesn’t resonate. And that’s why we have to give them ‘legs’, which will make them have an effect,” he added.

Blake explained that journalist should not promise too much from a story and must be realistic, but nevertheless should believe in the most positive outcome, while not pretending it’s possible to predict every possible outcome of their research.

Blake concluded that journalists should know that they are not alone in their work, and if they do not have editors to support them, they should find support among colleagues or elsewhere.

Lawrence Marzouk, a journalist and editor with Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, shed light on a case study about the arms trade from the Balkans and Central Europe to the Middle East, a report that caused serious reactions in the countries mentioned.

“You should first ‘pick the lowest hanging fruit’,” he said, while explaining how the reporting team tracked 1.2 billion euros of weapons sold to Middle Eastern countries.

Marzouk explained how reporters, while researching a “controversial industry” like the arms trade, “have to harvest all the possible open source databases” because the industry is highly regulated, meaning that there is a lot of documentation.

“To find the weakest link in the system, you have to know the system,” he.

Participants then had the opportunity to discuss techniques and databases with Marzouk using the arms trade story as an example.

Miranda Patrucic, an investigative reporter and regional editor with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, presented her work connected to the Panama Papers, giving an insight into how the research was done.

Patrucic explained how the offshore industry functions, through proxies, different types of companies, trusts and bearer shareholders. She also explained the interest countries with tax heavens have in allowing offshore companies to operate.

“These island states are very small with small costs. And all the documents for opening offshore companies, such as a certificate of good standing, cost something and the states make a significant profit on it,” she explained.

By showing concrete examples from the Panama Papers, Patrucic explained to the participants how to ‘follow the money’ and the businesses of offshore companies.

The former editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Martin Kaiser, ended the day with his masterclass session on investigative journalism.

“First of all, a journalist’s first obligation is to the truth,” Kaiser said.

“[Journalism’s] essence is discipline and verification… it must serve as an independent monitor of power,” he added. “It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise, meaning you have to listen… We make mistakes and when we do, we correct them.”

He also said that stories must be interesting and relevant.

“You got a significant story, how do you make it interesting? How do you make it relevant? How do you write in such a manner that it captures people’s attention?” Kaiser asked.

He explained that contemporary journalism has to use all the newest technologies and tools for writing stories, but underlined that journalists should remain “great storytellers” who “shed light where there was darkness”.

After presenting an outline of his work on a story about the high incidence of drunken drivers in the US state of Wisconsin, Kaiser gave the participants the opportunity to discuss what works and what does not in investigative journalism.

The Summer School is organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with the support of the Open Society Foundations and USAID Macedonia.

Lead trainer and investigative projects editor at Reuters, Blake Morrison, showed the participants of the BIRN Summer School Master Class of Investigative Journalism in Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday how to use a creative approach to structuring stories.

Morrison emphasised the need to persuade people who are sceptical about the narrative.

“Your job is to persuade people who fundamentally disagree with what you say,” Morrison said, underlining the importance of being imaginative when structuring a story.

“I want you to imagine the best story possible. To ask yourselves: ‘What would be the best source [for the story] imaginable that’s out there,’” he said.

“You need to believe that you’re able to make any story possible… but you need to manage your stories possible,” Morrison told the participants.

He explained how all investigative stories should be explained within six words and can be described using three questions: what is the issue, what is the harm and who is to blame.

Morrison concluded that journalists have to ask themselves the “so what?” question – why is something important – and “why now?” question, which explains the importance of the story at that moment in time.

Also on Tuesday, Crina Boros, a watchdog reporter from Centre for Investigative Journalism, continued her training on data journalism, answering questions from the participants through stories she has covered over the years.

She showed the participants how to use public registers and databases while writing stories.

Miranda Patrucic, an investigative reporter and regional editor with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, also held an interactive lecture on how to ‘follow the money’ and find sources for stories abroad.

She presented The Khadija Project – named after Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was imprisoned in Azerbaijan after reporting on the financial schemes of President Ilham Aliyev’s family. 

“One day she [Ismayilova] took part in a training, like the one you will get today, and learned how to follow the money abroad,” Patrucic told the participants.

She did an exercise about tracking money and companies through various databases, both open-source and paid-for.

Paul Myers, an expert in using social media for investigations, did a presentation on technical sites, tools and techniques. He showed how keywords are searched on Google and through social media, cutting the number of search results.

“Logic dictates search on Google, so you have to think what you search and discover logic behind it and look for that in Google,” he explained, while showing practical examples.

The Summer School is organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with the support of the Open Society Foundations and USAID Macedonia.

The seventh BIRN Summer School has brought together young journalists from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

 

 

 

Journalists from across Europe and the USA have gathered in historic town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the BIRN Summer School Mater Class of Investigative Journalism.

After greeting this year’s participants, Blake Morrison, the school’s lead trainer and investigative projects editor at Reuters, held an interactive exercise on establishing facts in stories. Morrison showed journalists how to hone in on important details in complex investigations.

The first day continued with an introductory workshop on data journalism with Crina Boros, a watchdog reporter from Centre for Investigative Journalism, during which participants learnt the analytical tools needed for data journalism.

In the afternoon, the participants divided up into smaller group for in-depth sessions with Morrison and Martin Kaiser, a retired editor who led the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to three Pulitzer prizes.

The Summer School is organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Open Society Foundations and USAID Macedonia.

The seventh BIRN Summer School brings together young journalists from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, United Kingdom and United States of America.

The course will include sessions in mastering the latest techniques for searching the web and social media, interviewing techniques, working with sources and how to scale up your investigations generally.

Trainers at this year’s Summer School, as in the previous six years, experienced internationally recognized journalists and editors from Reuters, Columbia University, OCCRP and others.

Lead trainer is Blake Morrison, investigative editor for Reuters, New York.

Social media expert Paul Myers, three time Pulitzer Prize winner Martin Kaiser, Knight Award winner Miranda Patrucic, from OCCRP and Columbia University lecturer Jim Mintz are some of the trainers at the School.

In the afternoon hours trainer will held small group or one-on-one sessions with participnats.

For 20 Balkan journalists BIRN is providing scholarships, while 10 international journalists will need to cover tuition fee.

BIRN is also providing funds for the best story idea. Three best story pitches will be able to get from 1,500 to 3,000 euros.

Participants will also have a bit of time to enjoy rafting down Neretva river and visit Tito’s nuclear bunker.

Applications for scholarships must be received by 20th July 2016.

Blake Morrison, investigative projects editor at Reuters in New York and the school’s lead trainer, kicked off a packed programme urging journalists to “use our skills of observation, be curious”. 

Morrison detailed how journalist can pinpoint sources and find key information during their investigations.

“People(Sources) will believe you if you really try to understand what the problem is,” he added.

Morrison also explained the importance of careful planning in complex stories.

BIRN journalist and investigations’ editor Lawrence Marzouk presented the school’s investigative fund, which provides grants to promising story ideas.

He said that participants will be split into groups and develop investigative proposals to present to a panel of judges on the final day. Two or three stories will receive funding from a pot of around 6,000 euro so that participants can carry out their investigation.

“I will help you to develop the story,” Lawrence added.

Mar Cabra, who heads ICIJ’s Data & Research Unit, outlined how journalists can find data and the importance of data journalism. She revealed how she had used official statistics to expose the worrying use of psychotropic drugs among children in the US.

“I decided to check how many drugs children in foster care in the state of Texas are prescribed and their use of psychotropic drugs,” Cabra said.

She presented a selection of groundbreaking data stories and emphasized that we need to think about data in every story, because “data is everywhere”.

“Try to do data as much as possible, and not only for clicks, use it for investigation,” she said.

In the afternoon, Philipp Grüll’s documentary “Tito’s Murder Squads – The Killing of Yugoslav Exiles in Germany” was screened.

The first day’s working sessions concluded with a discussion about the use of confidential files with Philipp Grüll, Anuska Delic, investigative and data journalist from Slovenian daily newspaper Delo, Besar Likmeta, BIRN Albanian editor, and Marija Ristic, Balkan Transitional Justice assistant editor.

The sixth BIRN Summer School brings together young journalists from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Austria, Kosovo, Palestine, Germany and Georgia to learn from leading media experts how to use social media to uncover crimes, skills for cracking open offshore companies and how to make reluctant sources talk.

The Summer School of Investigative Reporting 2015 is organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung  and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), Open Society Foundations and USAID Macedonia.

The BIRN Summer School began on Thursday, as on previous days this week, with a lecture by The Guardian newspaper’s Washington correspondent Paul Lewis, who explained how social media can help journalists research stories.

Lewis presented two case studies based on stories he published about Ian Tomlinson, who died after being unlawfully struck by a police officer during protests against a G-20 summit, and Jimmy Mubenga, who died on a plane as he was deported from the UK.

“There are so many possibilities for you [journalists] to find sources and stories on social media. This is what we call collaborative reporting,” Lewis said, adding that for many of his articles, information was found and witnesses contacted through various social media channels.

Advising the Summer School students how to approach sources and interview them, Lewis said: “Sometimes it is better not to ask too many questions, but to let people speak.”

During the second part of the day, the Summer School students were split into two workshops to help them to develop their stories for the future. Markus Lindermann taught journalists how to use advanced internet search techniques, while Helen Darbishire explained how to request information from the European Union using freedom of information laws.

The last lecturer on Thursday was a producer from the BBC, Meirion Jones, who introduced techniques for doing investigative stories for television.

Jones explained when and why journalists use hidden cameras for covert filming, and why it is important to have fewer documents in video stories and more people.

“It is very problematic for the viewer to sit and watch your piece if you have more than 30 seconds of documents. Or a lot of numbers. They are the enemies of TV. You need to have people in your video,” Jones said.

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici for the five-day Summer School, aiming to boost their investigative skills.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the OSCE Presence in Albania, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

The day started with a lecture from Guardian’s Washington correspondent Paul Lewis who spoke about his two-year investigation into undercover policing in the UK.

Addressing journalists about how to carry out a successful interview, Lewis underlined that “there are no universal rules“, but there are some tips for making your source “open up“.

“Avoid pressure, take time and listen more,“ Lewis said.

He also advised journalists to be honest with their source and “never cheat”.

His lecture was followed by a training session held by Sunday Times reporter Heidi Blake who shared how she uncovered evidence of corruption related to Fifa and the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Stevan Dojcinovic from the OCCRP held a lecture about investigating organised crime. He also revealed how he carried out one of his major stories involving drug cartels in the Balkans.

How to monitor websites and access pages that have been deleted or changed was the subject of the last lecture for Wednesday held by Marcus Lindermann.

“The most important thing is to know where to pick up traces and how to follow them. Google can work for you, if you know how to use it,“ Lindermann said.

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici for the five-day summer school, aiming to boost their skills.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, OSCE Mission to Serbia, OSCE Presence in Albania, OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.

Lead teacher and Guardian Washington correspondent Paul Lewis explained how he used data to shed new light on the riots that rocked the UK in 2011.

Lewis showed the journalists how to exploit social media, including verifying information and getting members of the public to help.

 “You should embed the idea of being investigator into your daily work,” said Lewis, explaining that most of his investigations emerged from his daily reporting duties.

His session was followed by a lecture from Helen Darbishire, from the Access Info Europe group, who presented a toolkit called “Legal Leaks”.

“This was designed for journalist so they can know how to ask and get information through freedom of information laws,” Darbishire said.

She added that, on paper, Serbia had the best Freedom of Information law in Europe, while the worst were in Italy and Austria.

Marcus Lindemann explained to students how to use Google’s extensive tools to dig deeper.  

Public records and how to uncover secrets held in tax heaven were the topic of OCCRP’s Paul Radu’s session.

His colleague Miranda Patrucic shared tips and advice on how to approach and protect sources.

“Don’t pressure them for the immediate comment. Deciding to speak out takes time,” Petrucic said.

“Reporters need to build trust and bond with the source,” she added.

Some 35 reporters from the Balkans and across the world have gathered in the Montenegrin coastal town of Becici for the five-day summer school, aiming to boost their skills.

The Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and with support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, OSCE Mission to Serbia, OSCE Presence in Albania, OSCE Mission to Montenegro and USAID Macedonia.