Highlights of BIRN Network activities and results

1. BIRN
Balkan Investigative Reporting
Network
2015-2016

2. BIRN Network operated in a
challenging environment
- Authoritarian tendencies
- Political turmoils
- Economic difficulties
- Deteriorating media freedoms

3. ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2015-2016

4. Journalism
Prizes
15 in 2015
10 so far in
2016

5. In May 2016
BIRN won
7 awards

6. Movie
“Unidentified”
The best short
documentary
award at the
South East
European Film
Festival in Los
Angeles.

7. And
unofficial
praise

8. Publishing, republishing and
broadcasting
In 2015 through 13 BIRN’s websites
Directly reached around 5 million people
Data for radio and TV
audiences, readers of the
press, and republished texts
are difficult to obtain.

9. An Example of
journalistic
impact
The law on decriminalisation
passed by Albanian
parliament as a result of BIRN
Albania’s reporting
(December 2015).
Mayor of a town in central
Albania resigned after
admitting being convicted in
Italy - the first major casualty
of the decriminalisation law
(May 2016) and arrested in
June for using forged
documentation to hide past
criminal convictions.

10. TV
Influential TV shows „Life
in Kosovo“ and „Justice in
Kosovo“ brought
institutional changes:
One official was dismissed,
one suspended, three
resigned, three
investigations were
initiated, one official
warning was sent by the
Prosecution, and one
contract annulled.

11. Journalistic impact
* Romanian Labour inspection fined three times one
clothing factory for mistreatments of the workers.
* Austrian prosecutors are
reviewing evidence related to the
case of the now bankrupt
Austrian company Alpine Bau.
* Commission for Accreditation
and Quality Control halts
accreditations of higher education
institutions, after BIRN Serbia
investigations.

12. Republications
Over 15 thousand
republications in the region
and across the world.
Including the most
prestigious media outlets.

13. Local and
regional
republications
• Over 6000 republished
texts produced by BIRN BiH
• Over 4500 republications of
BIRN Albania’s texts.
BIRN texts were
widely
republished in
their own
countries and
within the
region.

14. Republications - Paper Trail for Better Governance
12 texts republished more than 500 times

15. Republications - Balkan Fellowship for
Journalistic Excellence
10 texts republished in prominent international and regional media outlets 421 times

16. Republications – Radovan Karadžić interview
by BIRN BiH
Around 270 media in the region and across the globe

17. Trainings
Topics:
• Journalism: investigative
techniques, data journalism,
freedom of information laws,
online publishing and social
networks, election reporting
• Other social issues:
transparency and accountability,
public procurement,
participative budgeting,
judiciary, healthcare and public
administration, open-data.
90 trainings and
workshops
organised
908 attendees
across the region.

18. Monitoring and
debating
Related to: media, elections,
security threats in the region,
Kosovo-Serbia agreement,
the work of courts,
governmental accountability,
corruption and education.
In 2015,
BIRN published 12
policy
papers/monitoring
reports.

19. Databases
Seven databases
were created, with
over 500.000
documents.

20. “Skopje 2014 Uncovered”
Database and
mobile application
reveal true cost of
the grand revamp
of Skopje.

21. Building
partnerships
Cooperation with
media outlets, civil
society
organisations
(200+),
independent
institutions,
members of
vulnerable groups.

22. Advocacy
Advocating transitional
justice policies in the
region, accountable and
transparent governance,
and freedom of media was
an important part of BIRN
work in the previous year.
Participative Budgeting
programme by BIRN Serbia
was implemented in 10
municipalities, with the
results of the action
incorporated in budget
laws for 2016.

23. Media freedom
The European
Parliament, Freedom
House, Amnesty
International, Human
Rights Watch,
Reporters without
Borders, the European
Commissioner for
Human Rights
mentioned BIRN in
their reports.

24. Strengthening the
Network * Intranet
* Internal audit
* Capacity building and
team building events
* Hosting BIRN servers
and maintaining digital
platforms.
* Administrative,
financial and anti-
corruption
procedures.
* Monitoring and
evaluation

25. BIRN Ltd.
• Increase of premium content
sales for Balkan Insight (30%
better result in the first 3 months
of 2016 compared to the same
period in 2015).
• Company revenues now fully cover
the costs of its staff (compared to
the past when they were partly
covered from the grants).
• Accelerated growth of BIRN
Consultancy and tailor-made
reports for clients.
Celebrating 200 issues of Belgrade Insight

26. Celebrating BIRN decade in Vlašić
(June 2015)