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BIRN Macedonia Fellowship Book Launch

BIRN Macedonia on Monday, December 22 held a reception to launch the book “Power struggle: Meeting Global Energy Challenges in Balkans”, containing articles by ten journalists from Southeast Europe that participated in the 2008 programme of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence.

At the cocktail at Skopje’s Journalists` Club, BIRN Macedonia director Ana Petruseva presented the book containing investigative journalism stories done by this year’s fellows on the topic of energy. She spoke about the aims of the program and encouraged journalists to apply for next year.

Darko Duridanski, this year’s fellow from Macedonia who examined the energy arising from Kosovo`s independence and its impact on other similar movements in Spain and Georgia talked about his experience with the fellowship program and the topic that he worked on.

About hundred journalists and editors from Macedonia`s main media organisations attended the launch including from the dailies Vest, Dnevnik, Utrinski vesnik, Spic, as well as A1 TV, Kanal 5 TV, Alsat- M TV, Alfa TV along with representatives of embassies and civil society organisations.

Each year the BIRN teamof experienced editors and journalists in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE foundations is offering ten journalists from the Balkans a chance to travel and investigate their stories which are later published in their respective national media as well as published in a BIRN book.

Book Launch in Belgrade

A launch of “Power Struggle: Meeting Global Energy Challenges in the Balkans” was held in Belgrade’s O3one gallery on Monday and was attended by representatives of the media, NGOs, international and governmental organizations.

The book launch marked the completion of the second year of Balkan fellowship for journalistic excellence, an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

The book showcases the work of 10 journalists who spent many months researching and putting together their original pieces.

The reception was organised in honour of the two fellows from Serbia, Zvezdana Crnogorac, author of the article, Tuning the Soul to something higher and Aleksandra Stankovic, whose piece, Dash for Wealth Dooms Wild Frontier came in second place overall at a prestigious awards ceremony held recently in Vienna.

Aleksandra and Zvezdana discussed their experiences during the project. “Not many people get the opportunity to travel and work, both throughout the region, and across Europe. Through this project I had the chance to bring to fruition my research on the opportunities for sustainable development in Stara Planina, a topic that I have been researching for several years and that is one of my special interests”, Aleksandra Stankovic said. Zvezdana Crnogorac said how much she had enjoyed participating in the programme and encouraged everyone to consider taking part in future.

At the book launch, The BIRN team announced that following the success of the this year’s programme, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Erste Foundation have agreed to continue their funding and that the 2009 programme will get underway in January.

Book Launch in Romania

BIRN Romania has launched a book called “Power struggle: Meeting Global Energy Challenges in the Balkans” at the Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest.

Journalists and editors from the country’s most influential media outlets and other friends of the organisation attended the event.

The book contains ten reports written by journalists from all over the Balkans, based around the core theme “Power struggle: Meeting Global Energy Challenges in the Balkans”. The 10 journalists were selected in an open competition organised by BIRN with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the ERSTE Foundation. Lavdim Hamidi has won first prize in this year’s programme for his article “Power Games Delay Escape from Poverty”.

BIRN Romania Director, Marian Chiriac, has announced next year’s programme, encouraging local young journalists to apply for it.

One of the 2008 Romanian fellows, Magda Munteanu, author of the article, “Nuclear Power: Curse or Opportunity?”, spoke about her experiences with the programme, and recommended it to the journalists attending the meeting. In her article, Magda told how the Balkan states are gambling on the nuclear option as the best way to reduce the energy shortage, without fully considering the downside risks.
Andreea Gheorghe, another of this year’s fellows, gave an overview of her article and findings. In her investigation, “Miners Remain in Dark about Future”, Andreea looked at the future of the coal industry in the Balkans and the social problems that arose following the closure of many mines in recent years.

Book Launch in Sarajevo

“Power struggle: Meeting Global Energy Challenges in Balkans” http://fellowship.birn.eu.com/powerstruggle/index.html a compilation of articles, written by journalists as part of the Balkans Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence in 2008 was launched in Sarajevo today.

The 10 journalists whose articles appear in the book were selected in a competition open to writers from across the Balkans and their investigative articles are dedicated to the issue of production, use and lack of energy in the Balkans, and the politics surrounding energy policy.

The event was attended by the BIH media, the diplomatic corps, representatives of NGO’s and the wider international community. BIRN BIH Program Manager, Anisa Suceska Vekic presented the fellowship initiative and offered media representatives the opportunity to republish the articles in the book.

Mirsad Bajtarevic, from BH Radio 1, whose article on wind energy scooped the overall third prize presented his article to the guests:

“This is a story about the inability of foreign institutions to develop a project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite local interest,” Bajtarevic said. He called upon all journalists to apply to be a part of the 2009 programme, “as it represents an ideal opportunity for a committed writer to develop their investigative work”.

In the course of his investigation, Bajtarevic was mentored by Srecko Latal, one of the editors of BIRN’s popular Balkan Insight website. Latal told the audience that the timescale and wide scope of the fellowship offered a rare opportunity for journalists to focus on subjects which they want to investigate in detail.

“It was my pleasure to work with Mirsad, because he has vast knowledge of this subject,” Latal told the audience.

BIRN BIH representatives presented the first ten copies of the book to the Media Centre Library to thank the Media Centre for their continued support of the media in the country.
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After the presentation the guests enjoyed a brief cocktail party.

More than 200 media outlets and 10,000 Justice Report magazine subscribers in BIH, the region and worldwide have received press releases and information about the promotion and copies of the book.
In the next weeks, BIRN BIH will distribute the book to libraries in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar Universities, the National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other academic and research libraries.

The programme was initiated by the Robert Bosch and Erste Foundations in cooperation with BIRN, in order to support the professional development of journalists in the region and to assist in the development of international standards in the local media.

Additional details about the book and the journalistic excellence programme can be found at http://fellowship.birn.eu.com/.

Romanian Fellow Awarded

Magda Munteanu, Romanian Fellow of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, on May 27 won the prize for “Best Financial Journalism” in a contest organised by the Romanian Press Club.

Magda was awarded for an investigation “Behind ARLO’s gate”, which looked into the main Romanian aluminum smelter, owned by a Russian company. The investigation was published by Romanian Business Week news magazine.

Cezar Ion, the president of the jury praised Magda’s investigation as having been written according to Anglo-Saxon journalism standards.

On her part, Magda said: “I am very proud of this prize. I believe that economic reporting is still a minor journalism genre in Romania so, there, I will continue to publish such articles and to better promote them.”

Romanian Press Club is the country’s main press organisation.

Fellows Start Three Months of International Research

On May 1, after an initial seminar in Berlin, ten journalists taking part in the 2008 programme of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence started their research.

Selected to pursue their own story ideas within the broad theme of ‘energy’, each of the reporters from Southeast Europe devised local, regional and European research agendas before embarking on a summer of chasing stories, sources and statistics.

Under the supervision of their individual mentors – the editors who make up the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN – they came up with a range of interesting approaches to their chosen investigations.

Fellows will have to overcome many difficulties in their pursuit for stories, and to test their organisational capabilities and adventurous spirit. This year they will travel not only to their neighboring countries and EU, but their stories will also take them to further and less known destinations such as Russia, Georgia and Abkhazia.

To learn more about their experiences and impressions read the fellows’ blogs,  and in addition you can check the fellowship gallery  for 2008.

Fellows’ reports will be published in a book and on BIRN’s Balkan Insight after the Fellowship’s Selection Committee announces the winning result in late November at a closing ceremony in Vienna.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

Fellowship Programme Kicks Off in Berlin

This year’s edition of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence was inaugurated on Thursday in Berlin.

Ten fellows from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, are taking part in events hosted by the Robert Bosch Stiftung in the German capital.

The fellows have already attended training sessions designed to help them understand international standards in journalism and sharpen their professional approach to research and writing.

The ten journalists had an opportunity to discuss this year’s theme of the programme – energy – and held individual sessions with BIRN editors, exploring the details of their planned research.

Over the following days, they will attend a set of presentations by experts on energy, government officials and civil society activists.

Then, over the coming months, they will make their individual research trips to countries in the region and the EU, followed by a seminar and award ceremony in November.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Erste Foundation in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN.

BIRN Protests Assault on its Albania Journalist

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network has sent a letter to the Albanian Prime Minister expressing concern over a assault on Besar Likmeta, Balkan Insight’s editor in Albania. Numerous international media organisations, embassies and international organisations that monitor freedom of press violations were also notified of the incident.

H.E. Sali Berisha
Prime Minister of Albania
Blvd Zog I, Tirana, Albania

Mr. Grid Rroji
Director of the Communications Office for the Prime Minister

Your Excellency,

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, a group of editors and media trainers in nine countries in the Balkans and publisher of Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com) is alarmed and deeply concerned over the assault on our Albania editor, Besar Likmeta.

Likmeta was brutally attacked by MP Tom Doshi during an interview at the Sheraton hotel in Tirana in the evening of March 10 in front of another MP, Arben Isaraj, from the Socialist Party.

During research for an investigation about fake diplomas in Albania – published on February 20 (http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/investigations/8041/)- Balkan Insight obtained documents showing that one deputy, Tom Doshi, had a certified degree from Tetovo University despite the fact that he never finished his studies in law.

The Balkan Insight investigation did not contain the name of Mr. Doshi. However, as his Tetovo degree mysteriously disappeared from his CV on the web site of the Albanian parliament, Mr. Likmeta requested an interview with Mr. Doshi`s to give him the opportunity to clarify the matter.

Likmeta called the MP, Tom Doshi, on Monday, March 10th, around 9.30 and explained that in the documents Balkan Insight has obtained from the Ministry of Education, he is identified as having certified a law diploma from Tetovo University. The university has informed the Albanian Ministry of Education that Doshi’s law degree is a fake.

Doshi agreed to meet for an interview at 10.30 pm at the Sheraton Hotel in Tirana where he came with Arben Isaraj.

Through out the interview Doshi demanded to know why Likmeta was covering this story and denied he had presented any fake documents. He repeatedly told Likmeta that it was extremely brave of him to pursue this story. Isaraj than asked Likmeta if he really lived in this country and was he out of touch with reality.

“Then abruptly Doshi started hitting me with some sort of leather file holder that he had with him. He broke my glasses and gave me a black eye before leaving,” Likmeta said.

At the time of the attack in the Sheraton hotel bar, there were several witnesses: two foreigners working on laptops, MP Isaraj and the barman. No one offered help.

After Likmeta tried to get witnesses to give statement on the attack, the barman ordered him to leave, or he would be kicked out.

BIRN is deeply concerned about this attack. We urge you to do everything in your power to investigate this case and to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. It is important to note that the journalist who was so badly mistreated was simple trying to give a member of parliament a chance to tell his side of the story. Media workers must be able to work freely.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Gordana Igric
BIRN Regional Director

Competition for the Balkan Fellowship closed

Entry to the competition for the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence closed on February 29, 2008. We have received total of 64 eligible applications.

Entry to the competition for the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence closed on February 29, 2008. We have received total of 64 eligible applications.

Following the close of the appeal for applications, the selection committee intends to choose up to ten journalists to participate in this year’s programme.

The selection committee consists of six permanent members from the media community in the Balkans, Austria and Germany, as well as one annual member, who is an expert on this year’s Fellowship theme – energy.

The results of the selection will be announced on March 20 on fellowship.birn.eu.com.