Tag: Hub

Western Balkan Journalists Trained in Data Analysis and Data Visualization

Journalists from six Balkans countries were given training in vital modern newsroom techniques by BIRN.

A group of 38 journalists from six countries across the Balkans have been trained in data analysis and visualisation by BIRN.

Between September 23-30, the journalists, from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, took part in three online training sessions.

Run by BIRN as part of the Western Balkans Media for Change project, the training focused on sessions to enhance journalists skills in data analysis and visualisation – key skills required in today’s evolving newsrooms.

Training sessions on data analysis were led by Besar Likmeta, editor-in-chief of BIRN Albania, in the Albanian language, and by Milica Stojanovic, an investigative journalist with Balkan Insight, in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian.

These sessions focused on showcasing ways to analyse crowdsourced data collected via BIRN’s Engaged Citizens Reporting (ECR) tool using spreadsheets. The ECR tool, developed by BIRN through the Media for All project, allows citizens to contribute with their testimonies, forming a valuable data source for journalistic stories.

Additionally, Azem Kurtic, also an investigative journalist with Balkan Insight, provided insights into data visualisation techniques. Kurtic introduced participants to various data visualisation tools, including Knight Lab, Flourish, and Datawrapper, which help enhance storytelling through interactive and visually engaging elements.

This training complements a previous session held in June by Jonathan Stoneman, a data journalist and trainer with extensive career in BBC.

The Western Balkan Media for Change project is funded by the UK government and implemented by the British Council in partnership with BIRN, the Thomson Foundation, and INTRAC. The project supports the work of media outlets and individual journalists across the Western Balkans.

Journalists Awarded For Top Investigative Journalism in Montenegro

Six journalists were handed awards at the EU Investigative Journalism Awards on September 30th.

Stories on water pollution, banned pesticides and the mass shooting in Cetinje were some of the subjects for which six journalists have received awards for outstanding investigative journalism in Montenegro.

Tatjana Asanin, Nikola Milosavic Aleksic, Svetlana Djokic, Milica Babic, Djurdja Radulovic and Andrea Perisic were announced as winners at the 2024 annual EU Investigative Journalism Awards at Europe House in Podgorica on September 30th.

First prize was shared between Tatjana Asanin and Nikola Milosavic Aleksic from TV Vijesti for their series about sewage, “In Murky Waters, and Svetlana & Milica from TV E for their series, “Massacre of Responsibilities’, which revealed new details about the Cetinje massacre in which 10 people were killed.

The second prize went to Djurdja Radulovic from Balkan Insight for the investigation titled “Nobody Checks: Bying Banned Pesticides in Montenegro,” a compelling piece that reveals the dangerous consequences of unregulated sales of banned pesticides in Montenegro, posing serious risks to health and the environment. The story has been developed as part of the BIRN’s Summer School.

The third prize was awarded to Andrea Perisic from the Center for Investigative Journalism for her powerful exposé, “Smuggling of Montenegro archaeological treasures: They blow up, sell and destroy heritage without punishment”.

The jury consisted of Branko Cecen, an experienced journalist who led the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) to international acclaim; Olivera Nikolic who now heads the Montenegro Media Institute; and Mileva Malesic a founder of the Women’s Forum Prijepolje and the TV Forum. More about the jury members can be found here.

European Union ambassador to Montenegro, Mr. Johann Sattler, handed out the awards certificates.

E-Government in the Balkans Still a Work in Progress: BIRN Report

A new BIRN report says a lack of funds and political will means that e-government services and open data provision in the Balkans remain very limited.

E-government is becoming the norm around the world, but people in the Balkans are not benefitting in full because of a lack of political will in some cases and a shortfall in institutional capacity in general, a new report on open data and digitalisation published by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network shows.

The idea of ‘electronic government’, or e-government, is to eradicate queues, reduce paperwork and provide users with quicker, more convenient access to public services, from health to taxation and schooling.

In the Balkans, however, the roll-out has only been partial and faces a range of challenges, according to BIRN’s report, Open Data and Digitalisation in the Western Balkans: The State of Play,

“There remains a significant gap in their capacity to fully leverage digitalization across various dimensions, including skills development, system integration, cybersecurity, and user-centric solutions,” said an Albanian digital security expert.

Limited services

BIRN’s report highlights how Balkan countries are performing badly in e-government development; the online offering of public services remains limited.

In 2022, Serbia ranked 40th on the UN’s E-Government Development Index, ahead of Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia in 63rd, 71st and 80th place respectively. Bosnia and Herzegovina came in at 96. Kosovo was not listed.

The governments of all six Western Balkan countries covered by the BIRN report have specialised e-government websites and all e-government portals analysed by BIRN are active and up to date; new services are created on a regular basis.

Serbia launched ‘eUprava’ in 2010. A decade later, the portal was updated with a new design and functionality adapted for mobile and tablet devices. The address remained the same – euprava.gov.rs.

Serbia offers 186 unique e-government services, enabling users to access documents, certificates and services concerning education, family, healthcare, employment and urban planning.

Montenegro’s e-government system claims to provide over 500 services under the jurisdiction of 50 public institutions, but 349 of these are instructions on how to use government services.

North Macedonia’s offers services from 170 public institutions, out of a total of roughly 1,300.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has three separate e-government portals – one for each entity and a third for the autonomous district of Brcko. But there is no information on how many services these offer.

The e-Albania portal offers 1,237 online services and boasts a total of almost 3.2 million registered users. The portal, which is managed by the National Agency for Information Society, AKSHI, is accessible in web, iOS and Android mobile app versions, with more than 415,000 users also registered on the mobile app.

Kosovo’s portal, e-Kosova, offers more than 30 e-government services and also makes possible online payments.

Cybersecurity concerns

With increasing digitalisation comes greater scrutiny of digital security given the amount of sensitive, personal data carried on such portals.

“E-Kosova is managed by a private company which does not have a security clearance,” a civil society digital expert told BIRN. “There are no certified security officials because we have no laws that classify information, classify who got access, etc… the security behind e-Kosova has been the main problem.”

Montenegro has already paid dearly for lax security, after its e-government portal was one of the targets of a major ransomware attack in 2022. Services have not yet fully recovered.

In a report published in June, BIRN urged Montenegro to upgrade its cyber security institutions to tackle potential threats, as well as increase public awareness about private data protection, digital rights and online security.

The same year, Albanian government systems, albeit not on the e-Albania platform itself, were hit in July and September by large-scale cyber-attacks, which led to the temporary disruption of most online public services.

An FBI-aided investigation pointed the finger of blame at Iranian hackers, saying they had accessed the Albanian system 14 months earlier.

Lack of financial resources

Digitalisation and the accompanying security requirements do not come cheap. Balkan countries are particularly limited in how much they can invest.

“State budgets for digital transformation are often limited and insufficient to achieve comprehensive progress,” a representative of the institution in charge of e-government services in Bosnia and Herzegovina told BIRN. “Budgetary allocation priorities are not always focused on digitalisation, resulting in a lack of funds for digital transformation projects.”

EU and international actors such as the UNDP and German GIZ provide some financial support for e-government projects but one expert told BIRN that these are project-based and not long-term solutions.

Additional funds are required to promote e-government services once they are developed.

A 2023 survey by NALED in Serbia found that 61 per cent of Serbian citizens lack proper information on the eUprava portal and how it works.

Read the full report here.

EU Awards for Best Investigative Journalism for 2024 in Kosovo Presented

Behar Mustafa, Kreshnik Gashi, Alberta Hashani, Dardan Hoti, Aulonë Kadriu and Dafina Halili were selected from many colleagues as 2023’s winners of awards for best investigative stories in Kosovo, for stories that exposed corruption in building premits, judicial misconduct and online and image-based sexual abuse and harassment.

The ceremony took place in Europe House in Prishtina, Kosovo on September 25.

The jury consisted of Imer Mushkolaj,a  veteran journalist, columnist and opinionist who has led the Kosovo Journalists Association (KJA) and now heads the Press Council of Kosovo; Amra Zejneli Loxha, director of RFE/RL’s Kosovo Service; and Darko Dimitrijević, Editor-in-Chief at Radio Goraždevac since 2005 and a founding member of the Kosovo Media Association (KOSMA). More about the jury members here.

First prize went to Behar Mustafa and Kreshnik Gashi from Kallxo.com for their series of investigations into corruption with building permits in Brezovica.

Second prize went to Alberta Hashani from Betimi për Drejtësi for her story revealing judicial misconduct involving a bribed prosecutor.

Third place went to two stories from the same media outlet, Kosovo 2.0. The first, by Dardan Hoti and Aulonë Kadriu, focused on the consequences of online harassment and the victims of image-based sexual abuse.

The second, by Dafina Halili, was for her investigation of sexual harassment at the University of Pristina.

Hoti and Kadriu produced their awarded story as part of their project included in the Media Innovation Europe project – Audience engaged grants. This was their third award.

The Head of the EU Office in Kosovo/EU Special Representative, Ambassador Aivo Orav, handed the awards to the winners, highlighting the key importance of journalistic work in every society.

BIRN Holds Regional Meeting with GIF Local Partners

Local partners gathered in Belgrade to discuss challenges and lessons learned during implementation of the GIF regional project.

Partners involved in the Greater Internet Freedom, GIF, project, focusing on enhancing digital rights advocacy in the region, met for a two-day event in Belgrade for productive discussions, knowledge sharing and strategic planning on, among others, ensuring the sustainability of the GIF initiative beyond its conclusion in September.

Local partners shared success stories, addressed challenges and crafted plans for continued regional collaboration on digital rights advocacy and policy development.

On the first day, participants reflected on lessons learned from the GIF project, learned how to develop impactful policy briefs, engage civil society in international digital rights forums, and discussed what should be improved in regional cooperation when it comes to content moderation and freedom of expression.

Some of the success stories participants highlighted include BIRN Albania’s advocacy campaign that engaged police and strengthened networks, Metamorphosis’ practical cybersecurity training, and KVART’s streamlined, flexible application process.

Other successes include KCSS’s accessible cybersecurity handbook, Mediacentar’s digital strategy guide and SCIDEV’s simplified procedures.

Participants emphasised the need for a strategic, consistent presence throughout the year, especially on social media. Organisations should tailor content to each platform and focus on understanding target group habits. Additionally, efforts should concentrate on a few core topics, and youth campaigns must customize messages for different platforms.

The meeting closed with sessions on developing a communication strategy, building capacity for digital rights advocacy, and an open-floor discussion on future advocacy strategies, focusing on emerging technologies.

The session on communications provided an overview of the development of the GIF Communication Strategy, with a focus on sharing success stories.

Additionally, Olga Kyryliuk’s session, on CSO Engagement in Digital Rights Spaces, explored opportunities and strategies for local civil society organisations to engage in international digital rights forums, such as the Internet Governance Forum, RightsCon, and SEEDIG.

Participants learned how to navigate these global and regional spaces effectively and how local perspectives can shape global digital rights discussions, fostering stronger connections between local initiatives and international advocacy efforts.

BIRN’s local partners include Mediacentar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Youth Centre KVART (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Centre Science and Innovation for Development, SCiDEV (Albania), BIRN Albania, BIRN Serbia, the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies, and Metamorphosis (North Macedonia).

BIRN Holds Training Camp on Legally Safe and Crisis Reporting

Journalists from Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and North Macedonia attending BIRN’s Regional Training Camp on Legally Safe and Crisis Reporting on September 18-20 in Bjelasnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, learned how to protect themselves and their newsrooms from different kinds of attacks, including physical attacks, legal actions such as SLAPP lawsuits, as well as how to preserve their digital security.

The camp was organised in cooperation with the Silk Training Centre from the UK, which has developed a unique, tailor-made training to suit participants’ needs.

The first part of the programme focused on understanding the threats and risks the participants might be exposed to – and what they can do about them.

The second part focused on building the participants’ skills as first aiders.

The trainer and participants worked on practicing first aid and applying trauma first aid in a remote high-risk setting, including many skills that will be useful on a day-to-day basis.

The training also included a session about the protection of critical assets, assessments of threats and vectors, and physical and cyber information security risks.

During the training, participants had a chance to practically test the first aid tactics, helping an injured journalist with augmented reality techniques, and developing a protection scenario for a crisis.

Radmilo Markovic, from BIRN Serbia, then led a session about how journalists can recognise and protect themselves from SLAPPs.

He presented the definition of a SLAPP, including its background, characteristics, targets, legal and financial burden and its psychological effects on journalists and newsrooms.

Radmilo also presented four cases studies of SLAPPs from the Western Balkan region. He finished his presentation with advice on how journalists can best protect themselves from SLAPPs.

Participants expressed their appreciation of the Regional Camp, especially about its practical part.

The Regional Camp was part of the EU-funded project “Strengthening Quality Journalism in Western Balkans and Türkiye II”.

Funding Open to Engage Your Audience: Calling Media Outlets in the Balkans and Visegrad Countries

Media outlets from 10 Balkan and Visegrad countries are invited to apply for grants, training, mentoring, and access to BIRN’s innovative audience-engagement digital tool.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is calling on media outlets to involve their audiences in reporting by applying for Audience-Engaged Journalism Grants.

This innovative approach places the audience as a direct and active participant in content creation, fostering trust and stronger relationships between media outlets and their communities, ultimately making them more credible and reliable sources of information.

Do you want to engage your audience and build trust within your community while addressing underreported issues? Submit your original story proposal and share details about the community you wish to engage.

Who is eligible to apply?

Media outlets from the following 10 Balkan and Visegrad countries may apply: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia.

What are we offering?

  1. Grants for individual stories of up to €4,000.
  2. Grants for cross-border stories of up to €8,000.
  3. Four-day online training on audience engagement.
  4. Mentoring throughout the project.
  5. Access to a digital tool to enhance audience engagement.

In this circle BIRN will fund up to nine media outlets to strengthen their reporting and investigate underreported issues within diverse communities. Stories focusing on marginalized communities, youth and women are strongly encouraged.

Media outlets will utilise the audience-engagement tool developed by BIRN to crowdsource, gather and analyse data from their communities. Audience-engaged journalism seeks to bridge the gap between newsrooms and their audiences, transforming journalism into a service that directly responds to the needs of the community.

About the project

The Audience-Engaged Journalism Grants are part of the project Media Innovation Europe: Independence Through Sustainability (MIE). This two-year initiative is led by the International Press Institute (IPI) and its consortium partners, The Fix Foundation, BIRN and Thomson Media (TM). The project focuses on building networks, providing consultancy and offering guidance to participating newsrooms.

The first edition of Media Innovation Europe was launched in June 2022 to invigorate the European ecosystem for independent and local journalism. As part of this initiative, media outlets produced a range of audience-engaged stories, some of which you can read here:

  1. Image-based sexual abuse in Kosovo
  2. Mapping illegal landfills in the Balkans
  3. Secret hospital registers in Hungary
  4. Transgender and non-binary Serbs document job discrimination

How to apply?

To learn more about the grants, click HERE to read the full call for applications. After reviewing the information, follow the link to access the application form.

BIRN will also organise two information sessions, and registration is open:

  • Information session: 3 October 2024 at 9:00 (CET), register HERE.
  • Information session: 4 November 2024 at 14:00 (CET), register HERE.

Deadline for application is 27 NOVEMBER 2024.

For further updates, follow BIRN on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

For clarifications, contact the Project Coordinator: [email protected].

Meet the Mentors Strengthening Albania’s Media Landscape: Aleksandra Bogdani

Aleksandra Bogdani is an investigative journalist for BIRN Albania. She has more than 20 years of experience as deputy editor-in-chief of daily newspapers in several newsrooms in Albania.

She is a lecturer in Investigative Journalism at the Department of Journalism and Communication at the University of Tirana. Aleksandra won the first prize of the EU Investigative Journalism Award in 2014 and the CEI-SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism in 2015.

She’s also a mentor in the Western Balkans Media for Change project and has been involved as a mentor in the project Media for All.  Find out more about this important role in strengthening Albania’s media landscape.

1. What type of support do you offer to media outlets?

Engaged Citizens Reporting (ECR) is an innovative approach to journalism in the Balkans, particularly in terms of involving women, youth, and vulnerable communities. Our role as mentors is to offer our support and expertise to media organisations implementing this method. Specifically, we collaborate with media outlets to develop their activity plans, select topics, prepare callouts and questionnaires, distribute and promote calls, analyse data and content production. 

2. What does the mentorship process look like?

We prefer to start the process with an open meeting with editors and journalists from the media outlets to jointly assess their editorial capacities and needs concerning the projects they wish to undertake. In my experience, open discussion helps establish a trustful relationship between us. Based on these needs, we develop individual mentoring plans for each media outlet, focusing on the exchange of knowledge and expertise that BIRN has built over the years concerning ECR. The process then includes continuous communication through both face-to-face and online meetings throughout all phases, from topic selection to story publication.

3. In your opinion, what are the biggest successes and results achieved through this type of mentorship?

The greatest success in this process has been engaging diverse individuals and communities to produce high-quality journalistic content on topics that genuinely interest these communities. Through this method, partner media outlets have given a voice to the challenges faced by women and youth in entrepreneurship, patients with severe illnesses, parents of children and adolescents struggling with bullying, and vulnerable communities that are often overlooked in the fast-paced news cycle driven by politics and click-driven needs. Another advantage is the strengthening of ties between media outlets and these communities, which enhances their credibility and impact.

4. What are the reactions you receive from the supported media outlets through this process?

The media outlets we are currently mentoring have been surprised by both the number of individuals engaged through ECR and the quality of the information received from them. This has not only supported their reporting, but, in some cases, has turned them into reference point for other media outlets in the country.

The Western Balkans Media for Change project is funded by the UK government and implemented by the British Council in partnership with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Thomson Foundation and the International NGO Training and Research Centre, INTRAC.

Reporting Digital Rights and Freedoms – Sub-Grants 2024

Empowering Journalism in the Digital Age – Enhancing digital safety and capacities of media and CSOs in the Western Balkans.

Call for Applications Open

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is announcing an open call for Digital Rights and Freedoms sub-grants 2024. The call is open for media and civil society organisations from the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) which are already researching and reporting on, or have an interest in getting dedicated to, digital rights and freedoms and their respective violations occurring throughout the region, or which are impacted by global internet governance developments through their scope of work.

Awarded media and CSOs will gain an opportunity to collaborate closely with BIRN editors and our specialized digital rights team as well as to benefit from technical assistance throughout the grant duration.

Awardees will also have the opportunity to publish their work on some of BIRN’s regional platforms, such as Balkan Insight and local BIRN flagship media, which will enable them to inform and engage a wide regional audience.

Grants Overview

Digital rights and freedoms are under increasing threat, including in the Western Balkans. There is a growing need for as many responsible media and engaged CSOs as possible to become more informed and vigilant and explore internet-related topics more broadly from a multistakeholder perspective and in an in-depth manner. The digital world that we live in offers us new dimensions to exercise our freedoms. At the same time, those freedoms online are shrinking both online and offline as a result of invasive and restrictive policies, or misuse of technological developments.

This BIRN grant aims to help and engage media and CSOs with financial support, mentoring and continuous technical assistance so they can navigate, explore and deliver complex internet and human rights-related issues and (policy) developments to the public at large.

What We Offer

  • Grants of up to EUR 15,000 for media and civil society organisations to support up to twelve (12) months of activities, including but not limited to written content (research, investigations, analyses), audio-visual content, policy papers and reports, focused on in-depth coverage related to digital rights and freedoms in the Western Balkans region
  • Continuous support of the BIRN technical assistance and specialized digital rights team

Who Can Apply?

  • Media and civil society organisations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Application Process

To apply for Digital Rights and Freedoms sub-grants 2024, please download the Grant Proposal Application Form and Budget proposal sheet.

Download the Guidelines for application as well.

The following documents need to be sent to [email protected] with the subject email “BIRN RDRF sub-grant application 2024”

  • Grant proposal application (in PDF format)
  • Budget proposal (in excel format)
  • Supporting documents: certificate of registration, fiscal number certificate, business registry document if applicable, registration with the tax administration, bank account information, membership of press council if applicable, or list of relevant references for implemented projects (attached in the email in ZIP format)

*please note that we will not accept documents sent via any cloud platforms (for e.g. WeTransfer)

All selected grantees will sign a grant contract with BIRN, aimed at affirming the authenticity of your proposal application and your commitment to the ethical standards.

Submission Deadline: September 19, 2024

Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on:

  • Relevance and significance of the proposed activities
  • Feasibility, originality and potential impact of the proposed application
  • Financial quality of the offer towards activity
  • Team potential and previous experience

A committee established by BIRN’s digital rights experts, editors and project management staff will review the proposals.

Contact Us

For more information and to submit your application, please use [email protected].

Join us in our mission to defend digital rights and freedoms. Apply for the “Digital Rights and Freedoms grants 2024!

Meet the People Behind BIRN: Nino Bilajac

Nino Bilajac is an award-winning journalist working at Detektor.ba (BIRN BiH).

His main responsibilities include following developments related to corruption and crime in government institutions and public companies as well as malign foreign influence. Recently, Nino reported from Ukraine, where he wrote about the bombing of a children’s hospital, a story close to his heart having grown up in war-torn Sarajevo.

Let’s meet him. 

1. You started working at BIRN in 2022. What were your expectations back then? What has changed regarding your work since then?

It’s hard to look back on exactly what my expectation was, because everything happened so quickly. The work started immediately, but certainly new paths and opportunities opened up for me that I had not had before. Here I am specifically talking about work on foreign influence and work in other countries. Especially when we talk about that one type of war journalism, which has always been my wish and which I can say has finally come true. The big challenge was to move from working on mostly corruption to working on foreign influence.

2. Recently, you visited Ukraine. Can you tell us more about this trip?

Working in Ukraine was something completely new. The whole journey that took 34 hours in one direction, the uncertainty, the bombing, the testimonies of the victims… it would be a challenge for anyone engaged in this work. It’s a strange feeling as a child of war, after 30 years you again feel and see what was happening in your country, and writing the story about the bombing of the children’s hospital certainly evoked the greatest emotions in me. Ukraine was a special experience with a lot of mixed emotions, but also a sense of satisfaction that I had the opportunity to show the public what crimes are committed against innocent people.

3. What’s it like following developments in corruption and crime in government institutions, public companies, and malign foreign influence in Bosnia?

When someone asks me why I deal with these topics, I try not to go into the essence and explanation. This is simply what makes us one of the poorest countries. If there was no one to deal with it, they would do whatever they wanted, and we won’t let them. We will always follow them and we will not allow that minority to have a nice and comfortable life and the majority of my fellow citizens to have a bad life.

4. You and your colleague Tomas Madlenak were recently nominated for this year’s Slovak Journalistic Award in the ‘written investigative journalism’ category for the joint investigation by BIRN Bosnia and ICJKpublished last year. You discovered that two officials involved in an internal struggle within the Slovak police are now living in exile in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tell us more about this investigation.

It was kind of a continuation of everything we were doing until then when we talk about foreign influence. At that time, we had a series of articles about Russian influence and Russian diplomacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Quite by chance, we found out that three high-ranking officials of the Slovak police and intelligence service escaped to Bosnia and Herzegovina from prison sentences for corruption, for which they were convicted in Slovakia. Unfortunately, the bigger problem for us was how the institutions of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina allowed this omission to happen and unfortunately no one took responsibility. It is unbelievable that people like them are allowed to enter BiH at all, and especially to live unhindered. The cooperation with colleague Tomas and colleagues from Slovakia was a fantastic example of how useful cross-border journalism can be and how necessary such cooperation is in exposing negative influence.

5. You received many journalistic awards, such as “Eco Journalist” 2022; European Union Award for Investigative Journalism in BiH 2021 – second prize; European Press Prize 2021 – selected in the top five; CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism 2018; Thompson Foundation – Finalist for the Young Journalist Award. What do these awards mean for you?

The awards are the culmination of what we spent a lot of time on, gave our best and went through a difficult path to arrive at a certain thesis. An interesting example is that almost all of my awards are international, because the societies and organisations that give out awards in BiH do not seem to appreciate enough what we do and how we do it, or they simply do not understand what we write about.

6. What are the main challenges in your work? Did you have any moment during your career when you thought you should change your job and switch from investigative journalism to some “safer” profession?

First of all, we must be clear that Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans in general are some of the best places to engage in this type of journalism because it is exactly like that – a lot of corruption, crime and irregularities. Therefore, it would be somewhat pointless to deal with something other than what I am currently doing, together with my colleagues from BIRN.

7. What would be your message to young aspiring investigative journalists in the Western Balkans region?

Be brave, don’t let yourself be bought and don’t be a spokesperson for parties and political options, but have faith in yourself.