Tag: Macedonia

Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society

BIRN Macedonia – past programme
Through the “Project For Investigative Journalism And Cooperation Between Media And Civil Society” BIRN Macedonia works with NGO representatives and journalists to build and foster efficient links between media and non-governmental organizations with a goal for greater visibility of the NGOs and creating environment for production of more relevant investigative stories.

Summary

The project aims to support the investigative journalists with financial support and providing a room for publishing the stories.  The Project is part of the USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia and is implemented in partnership with Center for Civil Communications, Senter for investigative journalism - SCOOP Macedonia, TV magazine KOD and daily newspaper KOHA.

The project which was launched in December 2012 has several different elements including fostering links between journalists and NGOs, training of NGO representatives, supporting the journalists to investigate and publishing their stories.

Macedonia’s media are troubled with many challenges. Closure of independent and critical media, increasing pressure and control of the government over numerous media outlets and rising trend of self-censorship have led to a journalism guided by political and business interests of media owners, limited space for objective reporting and have almost wiped out investigative reporting. At the same time, professional journalism standards are largely ignored.

With this project BIRN Macedonia promotes and tries to strengthen the relation between the media and NGOs by detecting the priority issues of common interest. Ten debates with different topic between journalists and NGOs are included. The goal is the participants to detect the topics that need to be challenged.

BIRN Macedonia supports the investigative journalism by opening eight calls for investigative stories. About 40 journalists will be awarded with financial support for in-depth investigation on specific topic. The selected journalists will be provided with mentors from BIRN and partner organizations staff who will guide the journalists through the investigative process.

The Project provides publishing the stories written by the selected journalists on a separate web site designed for the Project but also on other media. The web site will not serve only for publishing the stories but also as a data base of NGOs and experts in various fields so the journalists and NGO representatives can check the needed information and contacts.

BIRN Macedonia together with its partners will provide training and expertise for the NGOs and media through 10 workshops so they create common language, but also to train the NGOs to get bigger visibility in the media.

Together with the KOD TV magazine 12 investigative programs will be created in the framework of the Project.

The project was initiated by BIRN Macedonia in 2012 and was supported by USAID.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
 
  • To bridge the current gap between journalists and non-governmental organizations on issues of public interest
  • To build operational and efficient partnerships between CSOs and media as base for more objective journalism, and more informed public.

Specific Objectives:

 
  • Establish partnership relations between media and CSOs that will enable a long- term cooperation, instead of one-off contacts on issues of public interest. Currently media tend to ignore or use the work of CSOs selectively, thus depriving the public of the big picture. At the same time, both media and CSO’s have not forged any strong ties or cooperation.
  • Achieve greater visibility of the work of CSOs and in turn greater media legitimacy; design a line of communication between media and CSOs, so CSOs can arm journalists with necessary reporting information in public interest helping their professional, fact-based, and objective information, resulting in more professional journalistic stories.
  • Support public interest journalism; By improving journalists’ skills, capacities, tools, information and offering financial resources for in depth and investigative reports, as well as room for publishing of their stories the project aims to create a pool of investigative journalists, create a web platform and contribute a significant number of reports on key issues.
  • Provide the public with better and more substantial information as base to make informed decisions (in their private lives, businesses and as members of the society), raise public awareness on key issues and stir debate.

Main Activities:

 
  • Detecting of media and CSOs common issues, through a series of public debates between journalists and CSOs representatives.
  • Research of the current media coverage of the detected common issues, through an in-depth monitoring of the way Macedonian media and journalists report those issues
  • Creating a common language for CSOs and media through 10 workshops for CSOs
  • Technical assistance to Macedonian journalists in reporting important issues on more professional, fact-based and objective way
  • Providing journalists and CSOs with a room for reporting for issues of common interest and for offering citizens important information to make right
  • Sharing information and news reporting materials with other Balkan countries

Target Groups:

 
  • Journalists and CSOs from Macedonia

Smear Campaign Targets BIRN Journalists in Macedonia

BIRN journalists in Macedonia are being subjected to an incendiary campaign on social networks by supporters of the rightist VMRO DPMNE party.

BIRN journalists have been targeted on social networks in Macedonia in connection to Tuesday’s attacks on journalist and cameraman in Skopje who were beaten up while covering a pro-VMRO DPMNE rally.

After BIRN Macedonia journalists published news and tweeted about the attack some Twitter users with generic nicknames accused BIRN journalists of being traitors and mercenaries.

Twitter users with hidden identity took to social networks to defend the VMRO-DPMNE supporters rally claiming that reports of the apparently unprovoked attack were media spin and to blame the victims of the attack for having provoked the crowd.

One user without a name went further, however, and – in what looked like an incitement to violence – published the home address of one of the BIRN journalists with a map.

The case has been reported to Twitter and to the country’s Helsinki Committee for Human Rights who are filing a report with the Ministry of Interior’s department for computer crime. The Association of Macedonian Journalists, ZNM, has also been notified.

“We are closely following and documenting all attacks and smear campaign and will accordingly alert relevant institutions and journalists’ associations,” Ana Petruseva, director of BIRN Macedonia, said.

“Regardless of attacks and threats, BIRN will continue with its investigative reporting and work in the public interest. This campaign further proves the significance of BIRN’s work,” she added.

Civil society groups in Macedonia have faced increasing pressure, from smear campaigns to raids by tax inspectors, ever since the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party in December vowed to rid Macedonia of the influence of NGOs linked to billionaire George Soros, a process it has called “De-Soros-ization”.

Tensions have escalated in the polarized country since December’s tight elections failed to produce an outright winner and since VMRO DPME was unable to form a new government.

BIRN Macedonia has been included in campaigns portraying all independent NGOs as traitors and mercenaries working for Western intelligence services to destroy the country.

A group called Stop Operation Soros in mid-February published a report that claimed USAID money was funneled into organisations affiliated to Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

The report by three authors, all VMRO-DPMNE supporters, named BIRN as “a Soros proxy” and gave inaccurate information about the funds BIRN Macedonia has received from USAID.

It also labelled BIRN’s online publication Prizma as linked to Soros and to the main opposition Social Democratic Union, SDSM.

On February 12, TV show host Vasko Eftov on air claimed BIRN and Balkan Insight belonged to a media network run by the British intelligence service MI6 in the Balkans, and named BIRN’s investigative editor Lawrence Marzouk in person.

The report has been picked up and republished by other pro-government websites in both Macedonian and English.

Macedonia holds the worst rank in the Balkans when it comes to press freedom, with attacks and death threats to journalists in the past.

BIRN Macedonia’s Vlado Apostolov Awarded for Investigative Reporting

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia gave its annual investigative reporting award for 2016 to BIRN journalist Vlado Apostolov on February 22 for his series of articles on properties connected to a Macedonian official, Vladimir Zdravev.

Apostolov received the “Yasar Erebara” award for three investigative articles on properties linked to the former chairman of the Council in the Skopje Municipality of Centre, published on BIRN Macedonia’s website Prizma.

Zdravev is also former director of the state company for electricity transfer and on the board of directors of Macedonian Telecom, in which the state owns a third of the shares.

Photographer Gjorgji Licovski from SDK web portal was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the same event.

BIRN Macedonia Launches Foreign Investments Database

BIRN Macedonia has launched a new database called ‘Foreign Investments Uncovered’ which indicates that the amount of these investments is seven times lower than announced by government.

The ‘Foreign Investments Uncovered’ database, launched by BIRN Macedonia  on January 23, also indicates that the number of workers employed as a result of these investments is three times fewer than announced by government spokespeople.

The database contains details of 138 investments that have been announced or promoted between 2007 and 2016 by government officials.

It shows that 43, roughly one third, of the announced investments have not been completed or have failed.

It also shows that 25 foreign companies have been subsidised by the government to invest or work in the country, but the amount that has been given to the companies as subsidies remains unknown.

According to the database, only four companies have invested the amount that has been announced, or slightly more.

The others have invested significantly less than announced by the government, or have not invested at all.

Foreign Investments Uncovered’ provides a resource for future investigations into this topic. The database is accessible at the following link: investicii.prizma.mk.  

This database is scalable and will be updated in the future when new information is available.

This database was published within the Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between the Media and Civil Society, part of the USAID Program for Strengthening the Independent Media in Macedonia. 

Tamara Chausidis

Tamara Chausidis is experienced editor and media freedom activist.

In 2014, she started to work as an editor for the website Prizma.mk, the main online publication of BIRN Macedonia. Before joining BIRN, she worked as an editor for Macedonian Radio-Radio Skopje, Radio Free Europe and TV ALSAT-M.

Jasna Andonovska

Jasna has worked at BIRN Macedonia since January 2016.

She has extensive experience in civil society in Macedonia. Prior to joining BIRN, she was leading a project for strengthening independent media at the Media Development Centre in Skopje. She has served as member committee president of AIESEC Macedonia and has also worked for DHL in Germany. She holds a BA in Accounting and Auditing from the Faculty of Economics at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

BIRN Macedonia Trains Albanian-Language Journalists

In a day-long course in Skopje, BIRN’s Jeta Xharra shared her insights into ethics, undercover reporting, how to conduct interviews and manage sources and much more. 

BIRN Macedonia held a journalism training session for a dozen journalists from the local Albanian-language media on June 28 in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.

The training course was designed to boost the skills of journalists from different media outlets, offer insight into BIRN’s standards of reporting and provide opportunities for journalists to expand their knowledge.

Attending were journalists from Skopje and other parts of the country engaged in web portals, national and local TV stations, newspapers and magazines.

Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo director and lead trainer of the course, used case studies drawn from her extensive experience as a journalist and an editor Xharra to give the journalists her insights into how to produce a story on the Balkans, how to use sources and establish trustworthy relations with them, what to do when institutions are not responsive, tips on how to conduct an interview, and more.

The training included an extensive debate on ethics in reporting at which the journalists shared their diverse experiences and knowledge from the country and the region and learned more about ethics and undercover reporting.

This training course was part of the BIRN’s Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society, funded by USAID Macedonia.

BIRN Regional Board Meeting Held in Skopje

Directors, board members, partners and donors of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, met in the Macedonian capital Skopje on June 18-20 for the network’s latest regional Board meeting.

Attendees convened for the three-day meeting, held every 18 months, to highlight BIRN’s recent achievements, review its internal policy and discuss its future role in the region.

BIRN’s Steering Board also met to review internal policy, current training plans, anticorruption policy, obstacles faced by individual country, and a potential change in financial software.

A number of new policies were agreed upon and voted into effect by the BIRN Assembly.

During the meeting, BIRN directors also led special presentations on key topics currently affecting the political and media landscape in the Western Balkans, which included press freedom and the rule of law.

BIRN Regional Network Director Gordana Igric said that in the current regional political landscape “organisations such as BIRN working on promoting responsible journalism are more important than ever.”

The regional Board meeting was attended by Board members Stefan Lehne, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, Per Byman, Secretary-General of Radiohjälpen, Wolfgang Petritsch, Chair, Board of the European Cultural Foundation, Steve Crawshaw, Secretary General of Amnesty International, and Ana Petruseva, BIRN Maceodnia director.

Some of BIRN’s long-term donors, such as representatives from ERSTE Foundation, as well as ambassadors and representatives from Swedish, Norwegian and UK embassies, also attended the meeting.

Alongside Igric, BIRN’s regional country directors, including Mirna Buljugic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jeta Xharra from Kosovo, Kristina Voko from Albania, Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic from Serbia and Marian Chiriac from Romania, attended the event as well.

On Monday, 20 June, Igric, Lehne, and Petritsch, hosted a public panel on the ‘EU Prospects for the Region’, moderated by BIRN Macedonia Director Ana Petruseva.

BIRN Wins Seven Prestigous Awards in May

BIRN’s investigative journalists and teams in Macedonia, Serbia, Albania and Kosovo have been given seven different awards in the course of one month for the quality of their reporting.

The most recent BIRN journalist to receive an award in May for his work was Boris Georgievski, author of the series of investigations called ‘Dossier Telecom’, produced for BIRN Macedonia online publication Prizma, who won the first prize in the European Union awards for investigative journalism for 2015.

The BIRN Macedonia team also won the second prize for its investigation and database, ‘Skopje 2014 Uncovered’.

BIRN Serbia journalist Aleksandar Djordjevic win first prize in the EU awards for investigative journalism in Serbia for his report entitled ‘Pumping Out the Pit and the Budget’ which was named the best investigative story in 2015.

Third prize went to Ivan Angelovski, Jelena Cosic, Petrit Colaku and Kreshnik Gashi for a story revealing how a multi-million-dollar road construction contract was quietly handed to a consortium with little highway-building experience and linked to controversial Serbian businessman Zvonko Veselinovic.

The story was produced as part of the ‘A Paper Trail for Better Governance’ programme, which is funded by Austrian Development Agency.

BIRN’s Albania investigation Albania’s Judges Wealth Escapes Scrutiny, by journalist Leonard Bakillari, meanwhile won the first prize in the EU Investigative Journalism Awards 2015 for Albania

BIRN’s film The Unidentified, investigating the commanders responsible for brutal attacks during the Kosovo war, was given the best short documentary award at the South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles. 

And finally, BIRN Serbia journalist Aleksandar Dordjevic scooped one more 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 to Belgrade. The investigation, produced by BIRN Serbia and published in the magazine Vreme, revealed how the Belgrade Business School, under pressure from government officials, unlawfully lent seven million euros to heavily indebted companies that were unlikely to repay the money. 

BIRN Macedonia Wins EU Investigative Awards

A series of articles by Boris Georgievski won the prize for best investigation of 2015, while second prize went to BIRN’s database, ‘Skopje 2014 uncovered’.

Journalist Boris Georgievski, author of the series of investigations called “Dossier Telecom”, produced for BIRN Macedonia online publication Prizma, won the first prize of the European Union for investigative journalism for 2015.

The BIRN team also won the second prize for its investigation and database, “Skopje 2014 Uncovered”.

The third prize, for young investigative journalist, went to Telma journalist Biljana Nikolovski.

“Dossier Telecom” analysed the voluminous evidence files from the New York Court case conducted against former leading figures in Magyar Telekom, accused of bribing government officials in Macedonia.

The research shed new light on the privatization of Macedonian Telecommunications and on the events that preceded it.

“Skopje 2014 Uncovered” contains extensive research that provides new insight into the public money spent on controversially changing the appearance of the Macedonian capital.

The basis of the research is an interactive online database, “Skopje 2014 Uncovered”, which contains all the sums, contracts, suppliers, names of companies and authors as well as investors from the project, and determines the final total cost of the project.

The Skopje 2014 Uncovered database is available in Macedonian and English, and in addition to the summarized data, enables easy cross-analysis of the data by users seeking in-depth information on public money spent on the project.

“Skopje 2014 Uncovered” this year also received the prestigious “Nikola Mladenov” award for investigative journalism.