Tag: Hub

Balkan Insight Cited in Council of Europe Commission Report

The latest European Commission against Racism and Intolerance country report on Bosnia and Herzegovina quotes articles from BIRN’s flagship publication Balkan Insight.

The recently-published report by the ECRI, the human rights monitoring body of the Council of Europe, repeatedly cites articles from Balkan Insight published between 2013-2016.

The articles include pieces dealing with hate speech, elections, the schooling system, incidents that sparked ethnic tensions, attacks on the LGBT community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and problems related to releasing census data due to political disputes.

The ECRI report concluded that politicians in the country were still resistant to ehthic integration.

“While welcoming the quick reaction by the politicians to the attacks against returnees, and measures taken to resolve problems of discrimination faced by the Roma community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the anti-racism commission denounced a persistent lack of political will to build an inclusive society in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the report said.

“Ethnically segregated education systems are still in place and the political elites of the three main ethnic groups show no willingness to embrace integrated schools. Inter-ethnic tensions remain dangerously high and hate speech is still frequently used in the public discourse,” it added.

BIRN Staff Trained in Project Cycle Management

Twenty BIRN Programme and Project Managers have been trained to build their capacities in the field of project cycle management.

The training sessions from January 31 to February 3 in Vrsac had the overall aim to improve BIRB staff’s effectiveness in the preparation and implementation of projects and programmes.

The College of Europe from Bruges designed and implemented the training programme and participants from Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia took part.

Project cycle management (PCM) is the process of planning, organizing, coordinating, and controlling a project effectively and efficiently throughout its phases, from planning through execution then completion and review, in order to achieve pre-defined objectives or satisfy the project stakeholders by producing the right deliverables at the right time, cost and quality.

New Investigative Journalism Project Launched

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, is carrying out a three-year investigative journalism programme thanks to support from the Austrian Development Agency, ADA. BIRN Kosovo director Jeta Xharra and Gunther Zimmer, ADA’s Kosovo director, signed an agreement in Pristina this week, marking the start of the project.

The programme is a continuation of BIRN’s award-winning “Paper Trail to Better Governance”, which produced a series of innovative and hard-hitting investigations between October 2013 andJuly 2016.

Journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia worked together to produce more than 30 pieces of watchdog journalism,www.balkaninsight.com/en/page/paper-trail, with many of the stories published alongside major international outlets such as The Guardian.

Reporters were provided with training in investigative journalism and given subject-specific briefings related to their stories.  

The investigations used public documents, often obtained through Freedom of Information laws, to shine a light on corruption in the private and public sector. The findings have sparked a number of official investigations which are ongoing.

The new, three-year programme will continue to use public documents and FOI laws to uncover wrongdoing, while integrating new, computer-assisted techniques.

Xharra said: “We’re pleased that ADA continues to support BIRN’s work building a cohort of talented investigative journalist who have the skills, means and passion to hold the powerful to account. “

BIRN Journalists Won 13 Awards in 2016

Journalists from the BIRN Network won prestigious national awards in their respective countries and a number of international awards in 2016. 

BIRN journalists in various countries won a total of 13 awards in 2016:

An alumna of BIRN’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme received a commendation from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Albania, UN Women, for the “creation of a professional model of investigative journalism for the reporting on trafficking of women and girls”.

BIRN Macedonia journalists won the prestigious Nikola Mladenov award for investigative reporting for the Skopje 2014 Uncovered database and a series of investigative reports about the grand revamp of the capital.

A BIRN Serbia journalist scooped first prize for the best investigative journalism story in Serbia’s print media. The award was given by the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia, NUNS, and the US Embassy in Belgrade.

The documentary film ‘The Unidentified’ – produced as part of BIRN’s Balkan Transitional Justice programme – won the best short documentary award at the South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles. The film investigated the commanders responsible for brutal attacks during the Kosovo war.

An investigation into judges’ assets by BIRN Albania won first prize in the EU Investigative Journalism Award 2015 for Albania.

A BIRN Serbia journalist won first prize in the EU awards for investigative journalism in Serbia for a report on a controversial government tender to clear the flood-hit mine, while third prize went to a joint BIRN Hub and BIRN Kosovo story revealing how a multi-million-dollar road construction contract was quietly handed to a consortium with little highway-building experience linked to a controversial Serbian businessman.

BIRN Macedonia won the first and second prizes in the EU awards for investigative journalism for Macedonia for a series of articles related to the Telecom dossier and for Skopje 2014 Uncovered respectively.

The second prize in the EU awards for investigative journalism for Kosovo was awarded for the story published in BIRN Kosovo’s Gazeta Jeta ne Kosove.

BIRN Serbia’s documentary ‘Flatland without Birds?’, about illegal hunting in Serbia, was named in November the best Serbian film at the Belgrade International Green Culture Festival, Green Fest.

BIRN Albania journalist Lindita Cela won a prestigious prize for ‘hard-hitting investigations’ into organised crime and corruption in Albania. The Central European Initiative and the South East Europe Media Organisation, in special partnership with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung awarded the prize.

BIRN Kosovo won an award for the Best Television Story on Transparency and Anti-Corruption at the Anti-Corruption Journalism Awards, chosen by the Association of Journalists in Kosovo in cooperation with United Nations Development Programme and the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency.

BIRN’s Social Media Pages Grow in Popularity

BIRN’s social media pages have increased their numbers of followers significantly, boosting the reach of the stories that BIRN is publishing and heightening public engagement.

The Facebook page of Balkan Insight, BIRN’s regional publication, had five times more followers in January 2017 than in November 2014, when the latest grant from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs supporting this digital outlet began.

Balkan Insight’s Twitter page currently has 23,441 followers, while in November 2014 it had a total of 7,556 – an increase of 330 per cent.

Balkan Transitional Justice (BTJ), another BIRN regional programme, has also recorded an important increase in its social media following.

Its Facebook page counts 20,611 followers in total, while at beginning of that period it had 13,000 – an increase of 159 per cent.

BTJ’s followers on Twitter also increased by 314 per cent, from an initial 1,250 to a current total of 3,926 from November 2014.

Balkan Insight’s social media followers come from around the region and from further afield – mostly the United States and Britain.

Emma Krstic, BIRN’s social media editor, said the organisation had been working to develop and deepen its engagement on social networks.

“In the past 12 months we have introduced more live coverage of events, namely elections and protests, which we covered on social media and through live blogs, and started to produce more video content,” said Krstic.

“Additionally, over the past year, numerous milestones and historic events across the region such as the war crimes verdict against former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and Kosovo winning its first-ever Olympic gold medal and its first-ever Oscar nomination for a foreign film, have helped us to grow our audience organically,” she added.

“Our content inspires a steady stream of comment and debate, which at times becomes quite heated among our social media community. We aim to facilitate interesting and healthy debate, but covering a region with such a turbulent recent history can evoke a very passionate reaction from our followers on social media which requires a lot of moderation,” she said.

Internet Offers Income Perspectives, BIRN Serbia Debate Hears

People in Serbia are willing to pay for good content on the Internet but there are major issues with clickbait articles, badly-produced news and commercially-led content, a BIRN Serbia debate heard.

A BIRN Serbia debate about the future of media financing entitled ‘How Much Money, So Much Information’ was held on December 22 at the Startit Center in Novi Sad.

Public broadcasting shouldn’t be market-oriented, because that reduces its objectivity, Tatjana Vehovec, executive director of the Center for New Media LIBER, told the debate.

“We need to have services like media research centres. Mass media content begins with headlines like ‘You will not believe what happened’, and a lot of them are clickbait, while BIRN will not achieve anything if it becomes like that,” Vehovec pointed out.

Srdja Andjelic, the creator of the radio programme ‘Mjehur na mrezi’, expressed concern that a lot of people feel they don’t need to get correct information and said that few of them are interested in what will happen to the media.

He also said that people who try to improve the content that Serbian media provides often run into trouble.

“A few of us have always had a problem when we tried to change it,” he explained.

Dasko Milinovic, one of the creators of the online radio show ‘Dasko i Mladja’, said however that the internet offers new possibilities for content creators.

“People are running away from traditional media to the Internet and there is room for everyone,” Milinovic said.

“Mladja and I decided that, since we didn’t have anywhere to broadcast our programme, the best thing was to do something for ourselves. Our goal is to have as many people as possible who will pay to listen to us, so that individual payments don’t have to be huge,” he added.

“We were surprised when we were able to buy equipment and start work using the first payments. We should be thankful for the Internet which provides us with all that space,” said Mladen Urdarevic, the other member of the duo.

Jelena Vasic of the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) said that her outlet gets most of its donations from the diaspora, but a lot of people from Serbia are ready to pay for its content.

“We have a fully developed system of communication with our readers, and from the very beginning, our idea was that if we work for the citizens, then they should be our donors,” said Vasic.

 

Robert Bierman Becomes New BIRN Board Member

Robert Bierman, a senior executive with blue-chip New York media companies, joined BIRN this month as a new member of its board.

Bierman, who joined the board in January, has expertise in launch, transition, turnaround and growth strategies and has been, amongst other things, the General Manager of Washington Post Live, the Founder/Head of Bloomberg Link, and the Vice President of Live Media at the Fortune|Money Group.

“It was very important, and very difficult, for us to find a person that has strong understanding of both media and business, since it is strategic goal of BIRN to work on strengthening financial sustainability in the coming years,” said BIRN’s regional director, Gordana Igric.

“We are confident that with Robert Bierman as a member of our board, we will find innovative and efficient ways to achieve that,” she added.

Bierman said he was looking forward to helping BIRN to develop its work.

“During its 12-year history, BIRN has championed quality journalism, freedom of expression and public discourse in the Balkan region, under very challenging circumstances. I’m honored to join the board as we look toward the future, extending and sustaining the Network’s important work,” he said.

The other members of the BIRN board are Tim Judah, Per Byman, Wolfgang Petritsch, Steve Crawshaw, Stefan Lehne and Ana Petruseva.

Robert Bierman

Bob is a seasoned media veteran and Executive Director of World 50 Group, where he oversees content, programming and product strategy for the company.

He also founded Tiny World Media, through which he has served in principal executive roles for media startups including CB Insights and News Deeply, Inc.; as strategic advisor to The Economist, TechCrunch and Engadget; and senior media advisor to the North Macedonia Strategic Initiative. Prior to this he served as general manager of Washington Post Live, founded the Bloomberg Link division of Bloomberg L.P., held executive positions at Fortune Magazine and was vice president/general manager of the trade show giant, Softbank Comdex. He is a public speaker and writer. His work has won numerous media industry awards in the U.S. and abroad.

Having done business in 25 countries, with a specialization in China, India, Southeast Asia and Mexico, Bob’s career spans the globe. He has served on the board of the Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York City, currently serves on the board of North Macedonia-based Pikasa Analytics and is a member of the Assembly for BIRN Hub (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network).

Balkan Insight Stories Feature in Prominent World Media

In recent weeks, some of the most prestigious media around the globe have quoted or republished articles from BIRN’s flagship publication Balkan Insight, reaffirming its position as a source of trusted news from the Balkans for an international audience. 


Photo: ArchDaily.com text 

The New York Times has included several Balkan Insight stories in its overview of European affairs in the last two weeks alone, including a Bulgarian investigation on whether a local arms company broke the embargo on exporting weapons to Syria and two reports about war crimes and transitional justice issues.

Balkan Insight stories are regularly featured in the BBC News website’s section News From Elsewhere section. Most recently highlighted was the article Bulgarians Listen to Classics Thanks to Copyright War, published on January 5, about a dispute over fees with the Bulgarian copyright society that has forced the national radio station to play only music produced before 1945.

Politico.eu also regularly refers to Balkan Insight articles in overviews of European news.

The story about the notorious architectural makeover of Skopje, Architects of Modernist Skopje Decry Retrograde Remodel, published as part of the 2016 Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, was presented on the ArchDaily website, which attracts 10 million visits every month, on the first day of 2017.

Another controversial urban reconstruction topic from the region, the Belgrade Waterfront project, gained international attention in a Forbes story published in December 2016, which referred to the Balkan Insight report about eviction of the last family living in the area.

Several recent Council of Europe digest reports about corruption also referenced articles published by Balkan Insight. 

Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence – 2016 winners chosen!

Serbeze Haxhiaj was awarded first prize for the 2016 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme at a closing ceremony in Pristina on Friday.

Serbeze won the prize of 4,000 euros for her story about the challenge facing a new court in protecting witnesses to crimes allegedly committed by former guerrilla fighters often regarded as heroes in Kosovo. 

The second prize of 3,000 euros went to Masenjka Bacic for her article about the threat to abortion rights in Croatia. 

The third prize and 1,000 euros was awarded to Elvis Nabolli for his story about the resilience of the cannabis industry in Albania. 

“Serbeze Haxhiaj has written a powerful and brave story about a controversial topic that Kosovar society has been reluctant to address”, said jury member Kristof Bander. 

Ten talented journalists from Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Greece spent more than six months of 2016 pursuing in-depth stories and investigations around this year’s fellowship theme, ‘Trust’. 

The book “Trust: Misplaced. Betrayed. Restored” brings together their work and was presented at the award ceremony in front of 150 guests including media partners from Europe, prominent public figures and more than 50 members of the Fellowship’s alumni network from across the region. 

The jury members who selected the winners were Florian Hassel, Central and Easter Europe correspondent for the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Remzi Lani, executive director of the Albanian Media Institute, Kristof Bander, of the European Stability Initiative, Milorad Ivanovic, executive editor of the Serbian edition of Newsweek, Elena Panagiotidis, an editor for the Swiss daily newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Gerfried Sperl, columnist of Austrian daily Der Standard. 

With the conclusion of this year’s programme, the 10 fellows join the BFJE alumni network, which already consists of more than 80 journalists from 10 Balkan countries who collaborate on stories and promote the highest professional standards.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence was launched in 2007 to promote high-quality, cross-border reporting. The programme provides fellows with financial and editorial support, enabling them to travel, report and write their stories and develop their journalistic skills. 

A project that promotes the development of robust and responsible press, the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence has evolved into a decade-long platform that has helped shaping journalism standards in the Balkans and the very careers of participating reporters. 

The fellowship will issue a call for applications for next year’s programme in January 2017.

Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is implemented by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, supported by ERSTE Foundation and Open Society Foundations.