The three days of training, the fourth session in BIRN’s year-long investigative journalism programme, were held between April 25 and 27 in Mavrovo, North Macedonia.
Journalists participated in building on the skills they have developed over the past several months, with teaching focused on strengthening their investigative and research skills and helping them pitch new, original investigative story ideas.
The training began with sessions on how to assess the scope of a story and identify strong starting points for investigation. This helped them map out the first steps in investigating a topic, how to ask the right questions, and identify the resources they would need.
On the second day, participants pitched their story ideas and received feedback from BIRN mentors and peers. The training then moved into exploring how to research different subject areas: such people, companies, and foreign entities. These sessions provided specific tools for gathering and verifying information from public records, open-source platforms, and social media, as well as ethical considerations when dealing with sensitive sources.
The final day was dedicated to learning how to use geolocation tools and online techniques to verify the exact location of an object. Through practical exercises, they worked on verifying locations with limited information, strengthening their observational skills and ability to analyse visual clues in the context of investigative reporting. The training concluded with a discussion on communication with sources, where the group exchanged methods and ethical best practices for approaching, interviewing, and protecting sources.
In the next month the young journalists will have the opportunity to pitch ideas for an investigative story. The best proposal will be developed with mentorship support from BIRN Macedonia journalist team. The summer training session, expected in June, will be the final event of the investigative journalism program.