Tag: Hub

Regional Reporting on Transitional Justice Issues

BIRN Hub

The programme aims to contribute to the reconciliation process in the region by raising awareness of transitional justice issues among the citizens of the former Yugoslav republics.

Summary

The programme aims to promote best practice among local media outlets in reporting on often sensitive post-conflict transitional justice issues.

It works to improve the state of reporting in this specific field by creating a regional network of journalists who are trained to competently cover all aspects of the process and by allowing local media to republish high quality contributions.

The team had been producing a 10-minute radio programme called “Roads to Justice”, which covered the region and was broadcast monthly by numerous radio stations throughout the Balkans. I

The BIRN team has also produced a series of six TV pieces, which were released as a feature-length film entitled “The Majority Starts Here” and a documentary film “The Unidentified”.

The Regional Reporting on Transitional Justice Issues programme targets victims’ groups in the region and in the diaspora, as well as victims of war and former camp inmates.

In addition, the programme is aimed at international NGOs, human rights groups and local and international journalists.

It is supported by the European Commission, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
  • To establish a network of journalists in the Balkans (Transitional Justice Regional Journalistic Team), who will be trained to report on transitional justice issues in the region, raising awareness and assisting in the reconciliation process.

Specific Objectives:

  • To contribute to the reconciliation process by raising awareness of transitional justice issues among the citizens of former Yugoslav Republics;
  • To improve the state of the media in this specific field while creating a regional network of journalists who are capable of covering all the aspects of the on-going process and by allowing local media to republish high quality articles;
  • To promote best practice in terms of reporting on often sensitive post-conflict transitional justice processes among local media outlets.

Main Activities:

  • Training for a specialized Transitional Justice Regional Journalistic Team;
  • Editorial Production;
  • Online Production and dissemination;
  • Radio “Roads to Justice” production and dissemination;
  • TV Regional Justice Production and dissemination. Regional Conferences.

Target Groups:

  • Victims’ groups in the region, as well as the diaspora;
  • Women victims of war and women searching for their families;
  • Male former camp inmates from throughout the region and abroad;
  • International NGOs, watchdogs, justice sector development institutions (i.e. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Centre for Transitional Justice etc);
  • Journalists, local and worldwide, who report on transitional justice issues.

Highlights:

  • The documentary film The Unidentified – produced by the BIRN Hub Balkan Transitional Justice programme won the best short documentary award at the South East European Film Festival in LA. The film investigated the commanders responsible for brutal attacks during the Kosovo war.
  • The War Crimes Verdicts Map – an interactive tool designed by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network to provide an overview of court rulings on the crimes that were committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

BIRN Investigative Stories Win Two Awards

Two BIRN stories won this year’s Investigative awards from the Independent Journalistic Association of Serbia in the categories for print and on-line media.

“Secret of Vucic’s tavern” won the award in the print media category. BIRN Serbia journalist Jelena Veljkovic wrote on how Serbia’s Property Directorate claimed not to know that an exclusive restaurant had been opened in a part of the Belgrade Cooperative building, which the directorate had leased to the “Belgrade on water” company, refusing to answer whether it believed this use of public property was in accordance with the law.

A story by a group of journalists from BIRN and OCCRP, “Making a Killing: The 1.2 Billion Euro Arms Pipeline to Middle East”, meanwhile won the award in the online media category, along with a colleague from the Center for Investigative Journalism, CINS, whose story showed that the Governor of the National bank of Serbia plagiarized a significant part of her doctoral thesis.

The BIRN arms investigation revealed how thousands of assault rifles, mortar shells, rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons, and heavy machine guns have poured into the Middle East from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The same story is also among three finalists for the Czech Journalism Prize, the best-known Czech media award.

This year, 75 journalists applied for the award given by the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, and the US embassy in Serbia. The jury included Danica Vucenic, journalist from Insajder, Milorad Ivanovic, editor-in-chief of Newsweek Serbia, Predrag Blagojevic, editor-in-chief of online portal Juzne Vesti and Pedja Obradovic, producer at TV N1

BFJE 2017 Launches in Vienna

At least one story promises to read like a crime thriller. Others will delve deep into corruption, public health and human rights. All involve meticulous research and the highest standards of cross-border reporting.

Welcome to the 2017 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence (BFJE), supported by the ERSTE Foundation and Open Society Foundations and run in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. 

In its eleventh year, the programme kicked off with an opening seminar in Vienna for 10 new fellows from across the Balkan region. 

Chosen from more than 130 applications, the fellows are from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. 

This year’s theme is change, giving the mid-career journalists broad scope to tackle issues ranging from the rise of populism and historical revisionism to Europe’s refugee and migrant crisis. 

“I already had a look at the topics that you have proposed and I’m really glad to see that you indeed have taken several of the most pressing topics that the Balkans have,” Ulrike Lunacek, Austrian MEP and vice-president of the European Parliament, told fellows in a video message made for the seminar. 

“It’s about environmental issues, family issues, women’s rights, LGBTi, refugee discrimination issues, but it’s also about rising nationalism.” 


Ulrike Lunacek, Vice-President of the European Parliament welcoming 2017 fellows

At the ERSTE Foundation’s gleaming new headquarters, participants received practical tips on international standards in researching, reporting and structuring long-form stories that will be published at the end of the year in local languages as well as English and German. 

A key goal was to refine story proposals based on initial applications. Individual editorial sessions were led by BFJE programme Editor Timothy Large, Balkan Insight Editor-in-Chief Gordana Igric and BFJE Programme Manager Dragana Zarkovic. The aim was to help fellows sharpen the focus of their stories and develop research and travel plans. 

Timothy Large takes over as BFJE editor from Matt Robinson, now Reuters special correspondent for Central and Eastern Europe. Timothy was previously director of media development at the Thomson Reuters Foundation and editor-in-chief of global news services for the philanthropic arm of Reuters. Over coming months, he will work closely with fellows as they research, report and write their stories. 

The seminar also included a visit to the newsroom of the Austrian daily derStandard, media partner of the programme; a multimedia and mobile journalism workshop run by Gunther Müller and David Klein from Forum Journalismus und Medien; and a presentation on press freedom, defamation and journalists’ legal rights by Barbara Trionfri, executive director of the International Press Institute. 

BIRN Network Visibility, Reach and Impact – 2016 Annual Report

The Annual Report presents the entire range of BIRN’s activities across the region from the perspectives of visibility, reach and impact.

In 2016, members of the BIRN network operated in a challenging environment which was marked by authoritarian tendencies among political elites, political turmoil, economic difficulties and deteriorating media freedoms. Political and financial pressure on the media, the refugee crisis, the long-term economic crisis and accompanying high unemployment, and high levels of corruption are just some problems that countries in the region have experienced.

Through investigative, analytical and specialised coverage of underreported topics such as war crimes cases, the flow of public money, cases of potential or verified corruption, problems within justice systems, media freedoms and ethics, and security issues etc., BIRN continued to play an important role in providing people in the Balkans with access to accurate information.

The Annual Report presents the entire range of BIRN’s activities across the region from the perspectives of visibility, reach and impact.

In this way, we show the scope and significance of the Network’s endeavours: for audiences in the countries of the region and beyond, media professionals, academics, policy makers (in the region and in international organisations), for the civil society sector, and for vulnerable groups. BIRN journalists and film-makers have also received awards for their work in their respective countries and internationally, and the report provides information about this.

BIRN Summer School 2017 in Dubrovnik

This year’s BIRN Summer School will be held in the stunning Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik from August 20-26.

The summer school will bring together some of the world’s best journalists and trainers for a six-day programme.

Reporters will have the opportunities to learn cutting-edge investigative skills and enjoy the delights of the Adriatic Sea.

Reuters editor Blake Morrison, three times a finalist for the Pulitzer investigative award, has been appointed lead trainer.

He will be joined by multiple-award-winning reporter/editor Miranda Patrucic from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Henk van Ess, an expert in Open Source Investigative Journalism, plus others.

During the sessions, journalists will learn how to dig for data, convince difficult sources to talk, transform their research into sparking prose and harness the power of video.

All participants will have the opportunity to apply for the Investigative Story Fund andthe three best story ideas will be awarded with funding ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 euros.

The location isMlini, a pretty fishing village located 10 kilometres south of Dubrovnik, the so-called ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’.

It offers a quiet setting with stunning beaches and excellent seafood, while Dubrovnik itself is internationally renowned for its fascinating history and breathtaking architecture.

Participants will have the chance to enjoy the idyllic surroundings while honing their investigative journalism skills.

BIRN Regional Project on Openness Now Underway

With the support of German Foreign Office Stability Pact funds, BIRN regional organisation has started the implementation of a nine-month regional project that aims to contribute to professionalizing media reporting on legal proceedings related to organized crime and corruption.

The new project, “Exercising the Freedom of Expression and Openness of State Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia” is intended to increase public awareness on issues of access to justice and contribute towards more transparent and more responsive institutions in these three countries.

The regional project will result in country-based and one cross-regional analysis, the first of its kind, offering a regional perspective on the accessibility of public institutions in the Western Balkan region.

The project will be implemented from April to December 2017 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia.

 

Challenging Dangerous Messages Online: Workshop Application

CIJA US, in cooperation with BIRN and the Foundation Dokukino will organize a series of capacity building activities in the Western Balkans in 2017 for activists, journalists, bloggers, educators and other online (and offline) influencers to help develop online communication strategies to respond to dangerous content.

Are you concerned about the negative and dangerous online messages that are damaging to individuals and communities around you? Worried about conversations influenced by fake news, disinformation, trolling, and various forms of propaganda used for radicalization and recruitment purposes?

 Would you like to contribute to making social media more positive, constructive and safe for everyone? Whether you have ideas on the backburner or you are already working on a campaign, initiative or a digital project through your organization, as part of your job, or in your free time, to tackle these problems in an online space, we would like to hear from you!

Workshops will be held in five Western Balkan countries as follows: 

Skopje, Macedonia May 18-19

Pristina, Kosovo May 22-23

Tirana, Albania May 25-26

Belgrade, Serbia May 29-30

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina June 1-2

 *Regional Hackathon in Albania: July 5 – 7 

Participants in the program will have access to one-on-one mentorship following the Hackathon, which will be an opportunity to further develop promising campaign concepts, as well as seed funding for the most promising initiatives.

During this workshop, participants will:

– Develop an online communication strategy to respond to dangerous content;

– Learn audience profiling and targeting techniques;

– Practice message development strategies; and

– Receive feedback and coaching from dangerous content response experts.
 

If this sounds like the workshop for you, please complete this short application by April 16, 2017. 

Accepted applicants will be notified via email by April 20, 2017 with additional details.

Please contact [email protected] with questions or to request an application in Albanian, Bosnian-Serbian or Macedonian language. *Applications will be accepted in English or local languages 

Workshops will be held in English with translation to local languages provided, as well as transportation and accommodation for those traveling from outside of the capital city.

Application form could be found here. 

Eleventh Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence

Call for applications for the 11th edition of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence (BFJE) closed recently and the results will be announced on March 31. The 2017 topic is “Change”. A total of 130 journalists from 10 countries applied for this year’s programme. 

The evaluation of BFJE programme on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, carried by Brankica Petkovic, Researcher and Project Manager at the Peace Institute, Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies in Ljubljana, concluded that the programme had been of high value to the journalists who had been given the opportunity to participate in it up to now.

“For almost all individual fellows interviewed within our review, participation in the BFJE has been a milestone in their professional growth and careers. It has crucially influenced the way they work in and perceive their own profession,” the review said.

“They speak of the emancipatory influence of the programme on them, about expanded horizons and skills, a changed mind-set and spirit, greater openness for cross-border journalism and their own positioning among journalists of the world,” the review added.

The evaluation included semi-structured interviews with 26 relevant stakeholders, including 14 former fellows, but also with members of the Fellowship implementing structure, as well as external observers, such as editors and media experts.

It stressed the considerable evidence of the impact of these stories on society, in terms of increased public awareness, public debates or even policy changes.

“In some cases, stories have even directly affected people’s lives, enabling them, for instance, to initiate legal battles for justice. Some stories led to follow-ups, either by the same journalist after the Fellowship program, or by other journalists in the region but also in international media,” the evaluation said.

Al Jazeera Balkans Shows BIRN Film Seven Times

Al Jazeera Balkans broadcast BIRN’s documentary ‘The Unidentified’, about the Serbian fighters responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Kosovo war, seven times in December 2016.

The Unidentified’ was screened for viewers in former Yugoslav countries as part of Al Jazeera Balkans’ ‘Regioskop’ slot, which usually reaches over 500,000 viewers. 

The film was put on the channel’s website immediately after the broadcast and has recorded 33,800 views to date. 

‘The Unidentified’ investigates attacks on Kosovo villages in 1999 and names those involved in an attempted cover-up operation to conceal the crimes. 

It takes viewers back to the villages of Ljubenic, Cuska, Pavljan and Zahac, near Pec/Peja in Kosovo, in the spring of 1999, when Serbian forces killed more than 118 Albanian civilians.

 The victims’ bodies were burned or removed, and some of them were subsequently found in a mass grave at a police training centre in Batajnica, near Belgrade, in 2001. 

The trial of the fighters alleged to have been involved in the killings – ten of them accused of being direct perpetrators – is still ongoing in Belgrade, but the police and army generals who gave the orders have never been prosecuted in Serbia. 

The documentary had its international premiere at 2015 Sarajevo Film Festival and has been screened at various other festivals and institutes, in Paris, New York, Washington DC, Zagreb, Belgrade, Tirana, Maribor and Los Angeles where it won the best short documentary award at the South East European Film Festival.

The next screening of the film on Al Jazeera Balkans is scheduled for May.

BIRN, CIN Begin Montenegro Investigative Journalism Project

Strengthening investigative reporting and the capacities of investigative journalists in Montenegro, as well as the quality of media content related to EU negotiation chapters, are the focus of the new EU-supported project.

The project, entitled ‘Investigate for ME and EU’, which is being implemented by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) and BIRN, began in February.

“CIN and BIRN jointly won this grant in the first-ever EC media call to be organized in Montenegro, and this collaboration is of particular importance for us. Through the partnership with BIRN, CIN-CG – established just three years ago – will strengthen its capacities, both in terms of supporting journalistic investigations and in managing an EU project,” said Milka Tadic Mijovic, president of CIN-CG.

“Investigative stories about the process of EU integration will be produced by the members of our team and journalists from other Montenegrin media – those that win in the call for the best investigative proposals, which is already open. They will deal with the biggest challenges in the country’s negotiations with the EU, including corruption, the rule of law, and environmental issues,” Tadic Mijovic explained.