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What We Do

Reporting

BIRN's Balkan Insight features cross-regional reporting of the key issues related to the region's development and progress in achieving European political, social and economic standards. The online Balkan Insight publication provides weekly coverage in a variety of genres to over 10,000 readers who subscribe to the publication's newsletter.

Training

Training is a vital component of BIRN's work and, like its reporting, it is geared firmly towards building and supporting BIRN's investigative teams throughout the Balkans.

Local journalists and analysts are thus engaged to produce Balkan Insight reports, each of which goes through a rigorous editorial process. By demanding the highest standards of clarity, accuracy and objectivity, editors provide 'on the job' training to these journalists.

This is reinforced with occasional workshop-based training, whereby particular needs identified through the reporting editorial process are given greater attention.

Investigative journalism training events for more experienced members of BIRN's teams go deeper into essential elements of this discipline, with courses covering organised crime and corruption, following a paper trail and libel.


Debates and Round Tables

In order to place issues raised in reports more firmly on the public agenda, and to seek their exploration or possible resolution, BIRN moderates regular follow-on debates and discussions.

By engaging key actors from the media, the governmental and non-governmental sectors, such events draw additional attention and promote the 'watchdog' role played by the media in more developed countries, but still lacking throughout South-east European societies.

BIRN is also called upon to participate in and moderate other organisations' debates. The entire BIRN team regularly gives briefings, comments and analyses on the situation in the region to local and international media.

BIRN country director for Kosovo, Jeta Xharra, has pushed BIRN to the forefront of the political debate in the territory by moderating a series of widely watched televised discussions. "I wanted to give Kosovo viewers a more exciting show than they're used to, by providing a different kind of format in which politicians are asked challenging questions and are interrupted when they try to evade issues", she says.
 
Multi-Media Projects:

While written journalism has the appeal of continuity and in-depth examination, television work allows BIRN to reach a far wider audience in the Balkans. In 2005, BIRN produced an 85-minute documentary, Does Anyone Have a Plan?, which focuses on the dilemmas facing 17 ordinary people from Kosovo, Serbia and neighbouring countries in the run-up to final status negotiations. The film, directed by the award-winning filmmaker Lode Desmet, put their most burning questions to - and received answers from - a range of leading local and international political figures.

The cooperation of BIRN's Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina teams in this project demonstrated the advantage of the Network and the role of the hub, which developed the project, sourced funds, assisted in its implementation, monitored and evaluated its progress and presented the film regionally and internationally.