Tag: Macedonia

BIRN Conference Sparks Widespread Media Interest

Several Bosnian TV stations, including the region’s CNN affiliate N1 and over 30 online media outlets, reported on BIRN’s conference on media freedom challenges in the Balkans held last week.

The BIRN network directors were featured on ‘Reflex’, a talk show hosted by Mimo Sahinpasic on TV OBN in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They discussed the various issues media professionals are faced with in the region today.

Commenting on the situation in Macedonia, BIRN’s director Ana Petruseva highlighted the power the government has over media in the country. “The prime minister’s cabinet decides on everything, from topics to be covered to potential interviewees,” Petruseva said.

BIRN regional network director Gordana Igric told FACE TV meanwhile that the media and civil society in the Balkans should not wait for Brussels’ help but act to ensure their own freedom and avoid becoming victims of political games.

Mirna Buljugic, BIRN BiH’s acting director, gave an interview for N1 in which she raised concerns about the deteriorating situation in the media sector, increasing political pressures as well as physical attacks on journalists in the country.

The cost of ethical and professional media is always high as room for critical opinion is constantly shrinking, concluded Jeta Xharra and Dragana Zivkovic Obradovic, BIRN directors from Kosovo and Serbia for Hayat TV.

In addition, EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn’s video message to the conference about the disturbing media situation in the Balkans was featured on Radio Free Europe, Banja Luka-based portal Buka, klix.ba, news agencies Tanjug and Fena as well as kurir.rs, vesti.rs, beta.informer.rs, bljeask.info, dnevnik.ba and video news site source.ba.

BIRN Marks its Tenth Birthday in Bosnia

The BIRN network celebrated its 10th anniversary from June 12th to 14th with a regional media conference in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, followed by series of team building events, meetings and workshops on Mt Vlasic, some two hours’ drive away.

More than a hundred employees of the organisation from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia participated in two days of events at a hotel on Mt Vlasic.

Programme managers, project coordinators and administrative staff discussed rules, guidelines and a new information management strategy in two sessions led by Dusica Cook, BIRN Regional Operations Manager.

Jeta Xharra, BIRN’s Kosovo Director, used the opportunity to brief the management on the monitoring of elections, courts, procurement, the Kosovo-Serbia agreement, and municipalities.

BIRN journalists attended training sessions on journalistic standards led by Andrew Gray, Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Editor, and on investigative journalism, led by Lawrence Marzouk, BIRN editor.

Valon Canhasi, BIRN Kosovo’s Social Media Editor, guided journalists on the importance of having a presence on social media and on the latest trends in users’ habits.

Balkan Insight and Balkan Transitional Justice staff held editorial and commissioning meetings, while Ana Petruseva, Balkan Insight’s Managing Editor and Milos Milosavljevic, BIRN’s Chief Digital Officer, held a technical training session for journalists.

Finally, BIRN journalists and management had two sessions – one on databases in the Network and their further development and possible integration, and the other focusing on BIRN’s web strategy.

BIRN Assembly members and Gordana Igric, BIRN’s Regional Network Director, convened for their regular annual meeting where they discussed BIRN’s new five-year strategy.

The BIRN team celebrated the fact that the Balkan Investigative Reporting Regional Network was established in July 2005, ten years ago, since when it has grown significantly, winning numerous national and international awards and merits and becoming one of the most trusted media organisations in the Balkan and Southeast Europe region.

The next meeting of the BIRN network, scheduled for 2017, will see a new round of team building activities, workshops and a checkpoint review of the five-year strategy.

Vlado Apostolov

Vlado has been covering topics related to organised crime, corruption and human rights for the last five years and at the beginnings of his journalism career he was working as a reporter in the economic newsrooms in several media.

Before joining the BIRN Macedonia team, for five years he worked as a journalist for to the weekly Fokus magazine, where he was also a second editor in chief for the last 2014 year. He has worked for the news site NOVA TV, the daily newspaper Spic and for the weekly magazine Sega. In his career Vlado had collaborated with several magazines that cover music and arts. He has written music reviews for magazines and online music portals.

He has attended many training courses and workshops, including the BIRN Summer School for Investigative Journalism in 2013. He has received awards for his investigative stories from the Association of Journalists from Macedonia and the Macedonian media institute.

BIRN Macedonia Launches Eight Call for Investigative Reports

BIRN Macedonia, together with Centre for Investigative journalism – SCOOP Macedonia and the Centre for Civil Communications launched the seventh call for investigative stories on June 1st.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In this call that closes on June 16, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story.

Journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, but also will have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life.

The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia. More calls for investigative grants will follow.

Click for more information about the application procedure, with details in Macedonian.

BIRN Stories Win Awards in Macedonia

The Macedonian Media Institute on Thursday presented the awards for best investigative stories for 2014. First prize went to Ljubisa Arsic of the weekly Fokus for a series of stories named “Secret manufacturing plant for passports”.

 

Second prize went to Sonja Kolevska–Delevska, of the daily Vest, for a series of stories on rapes of minors at the Educational Correctional Center in Tetovo.

Third prize went to BIRN’s story, by Vlado Apostolov, Saska Cvetkovska and Nela Lazarevic, called “Skopje Landfill Tender Winner: No experience, no investment,” which was written with the support of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting Fund.

Journalist Marija Mitevska won an honorable mention for a story named “Dream of Luxury Hotels Vanishes in Macedonia,” supported by BIRN Macedonia’s project for investigative journalism, funded By USAID.

Vladimir Kalinski also got an honorable mention for BIRN’s story “The pollution in Skopje – crime without culprits”.

Honorable mentions went also to journalists Valentina Stojanchevska, Vlatko Stojanovski and Zhaklina Hadzi–Zafirova.

The Macedonian Media Institute awards have been given since 2001 with a view to improving and promoting investigative journalism. Since 2013, theawards have been named after the late owner and editor of weekly “Fokus”, Nikola Mladenov, who died in a car accident.

 

BIRN Macedonia Launches Seventh Call for Investigative Reports

BIRN Macedonia, together with Centre for Investigative journalism – SCOOP Macedonia and the Centre for Civil Communications launched the seventh call for investigative stories on March 2nd.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In this call that closes on March 16, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story.

Journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, but also will have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life.

The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia. More calls for investigative grants will follow.

Click for more information about the application procedure, with details in Macedonian.

BIRN Builds up Library of Investigative Journalism

BIRN Macedonia on February 25 donated a variety of books to the School of Journalism and Public Relations in Macedonia in order to provide additional support to the students of the school in strengthening their skills and knowledge of investigative journalism.

The donation consisted of more than 20 books on topics related to investigative journalism, covering trends in journalism, mining data, computing-assisted reporting, data visualization, manuals and best practices in investigative journalism in the world, and more.

BIRN also donated copies of BIRN’s guide to investigative journalism in the Balkans, “Digging Deeper”, by Sheila Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor at Columbia University New York.

The main purpose of the books is to help students of journalism in Macedonia to expand their knowledge in the field with the latest literature available at the moment. Apart from students at the School for Journalism, the books may be used by students of other faculties, journalists and media professionals.

This donation was supported by the US Embassy in Macedonia and the USAID Mission in Macedonia through its Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society.

BIRN Macedonia Promotes 2015 Fellowship

BIRN Macedonia has launched the ninth Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, this year on the theme of ‘Values’.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network office in Macedonia on February 18 held a reception to promote the ninth annual Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. Experienced journalists are invited to send story proposals by February 25 based on the theme of “Values”.

BIRN Macedonia Director Ana Petruseva explained the programme to journalists and editors who wish to apply with proposals for stories that involve cross-border investigations.

“The Fellowship is an opportunity to learn from some of the best journalists and editors out there and for your stories to be published in such renowned world media outlets as the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian and others,” Petrusheva said.

Macedonian 2014 Fellow Marija Mitevska said work on such investigative stories was time-consuming but she nevertheless urged journalists to apply for what she called a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”.

The application deadline is February 25. Journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Greece and Serbia are eligible.

Applicants selected for the Fellowship will receive €2,000 as a bursary and up to another €2,000 for travel and research expenses. They will also attend international seminars and receive one-to-one mentoring for their stories.

Completed articles will be published in English and in local languages by leading regional and international media. In addition, the top three articles will receive awards of €4,000, €3,000 and €1,000.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme is supported by the ERSTE Foundation and the Open Society Foundation in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN.

The application form, guidelines and further information about the fellowship are available online: fellowship.birn.eu.com.

BIRN Macedonia Launches Sixth Call for Investigative Reports

BIRN Macedonia, together with Centre for Investigative journalism – SCOOP Macedonia and the Centre for Civil Communications launched the fifth call for investigative stories on November 25th.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In this call that closes on December 8th, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story.

Journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, but also will have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life.

The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia. More calls for investigative grants will follow in 2015.

Click for more information about the application procedure, with details in Macedonian.

BIRN Macedonia Launches Fifth Call for Investigative Reports

BIRN Macedonia, together with Centre for Investigative journalism – SCOOP Macedonia and the Centre for Civil Communications launched the fifth call for investigative stories on August 25th.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In this call that closes on September 8th, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story. More calls for investigative grants will follow, for a total of 40 stories until June 2015.

Journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, but also will have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life.

The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia.

Next call for investigative stories will be published by the end of 2014.

Click for more information about the application procedure, with details in Macedonian.