Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence

11/10/2025

From deadly train crashes to police assaults and wildfires, the Greek state bears its share of blame for destroyed lives and livelihoods – but good luck with getting it to own up and pay out.

Read the story we published in cooperation with the News 24/7:

Σε κάθε ευνομούμενο κράτος η πολιτεία φέρει ευθύνη όταν από υπαιτιότητα των κρατικών οργάνων, ζημιώνονται οι πολίτες. Στην Ελλάδα, ωστόσο, η διεκδίκηση αποζημιώσεω...

11/10/2025

In 2011, during Greece’s anti-austerity protests, photographer Giannis Kafkas was severely beaten by riot police in Athens.

He spent ten days in a coma and sustained permanent injuries.

A Greek court ruled that the state must pay him €100,000 in compensation, but 14 years later, Kafkas has not received a single euro.

And Kafkas is not alone.

Victims of wildfires, train crashes, and police violence face the same system, one that drags cases for years, sometimes decades, refusing to admit fault or pay compensation.

Read the full investigation by Lina Kapetaniou and Janine Louloudi:

From deadly train crashes to police assaults and wildfires, the Greek state bears its share of blame for destroyed lives and livelihoods – but good luck with getting it to own up and pay out.

29/09/2025

Twenty years ago, a group of independent-minded journalists from the western Balkans began collaborating across countries that had just been at war. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is the result of that collaboration. Our founders were all women, and on this episode of Long Exposure, we hear from one of them – the former regional director of BIRN, Gordana Igric.

Gordana reflects on a long career in journalism and the media development sector, taking in the collapse of Yugoslavia and the subsequent struggle to build a strong, free press.

https://balkaninsight.com/2025/05/30/laying-the-foundations-gordana-igric-and-the-birth-of-birn/

Shared in honour of World News Day, the global campaign to highlight the value of honest, fact-based journalism.

More episodes of Long Exposure: Season One
https://balkaninsight.com/fellowship-for-journalistic-excellence/podcast/

26/09/2025

📌 Meet the People Behind BIRN

This year marks BIRN's 20th anniversary! 🎂

What started as a small group of five hard-working, enthusiastic women in a traditional patriarchal Western Balkans region grew into a world-renowned organisation, BIRN, with more than 300 people. 🥳

Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic, BIRN Srbija's director, joined BIRN just months after its founding in 2006 as a programme manager. In 2007, she became the country director. She is also a Regional Manager of the Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme.

Under her leadership, BIRN Serbia has been recognised for its professionalism and ability to influence the public agenda in media development and good governance.

But at the start, there were just three people.

"Today, BIRN Serbia is a leading, award-winning investigative outlet that sets standards in the profession. We're just now working on new projects about AI in journalism, kickstarting a community programme, and redesigning our website," says Dragana.

Learn more about her: https://birn.eu.com/news-and-events/meet-the-people-behind-birn-dragana-zarkovic-obradovic/

16/09/2025

In the reporting of Europe's migration crisis, the Balkans usually
appears as a waystation. Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia are "transit
countries", stepping stones along a treacherous path. But this part of the world has also sent its own citizens westwards, as migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty.

The Croatian journalist Barbara Matejcic explores this bitter
historical irony in depth. She joins Long Exposure to discuss her
award-winning work and to reflect on the craft of long-form.

https://balkaninsight.com/2025/05/30/on-the-road-barbara-matejcic-on-the-echoes-of-europes-migration-crisis/

More from the first season of Long Exposure:
https://balkaninsight.com/fellowship-for-journalistic-excellence/podcast/

03/09/2025

The Polish journalist Tadeusz Michrowski grew up listening to true-crime stories. His father worked in law enforcement and liked to liven up family outings by listing the murders that had taken place in the villages along the way.

On this episode of Long Exposure, Tadeusz discuses how he looks for similar qualities – “something interesting, meaty” – in long-form journalism. He also discusses his Fellowship investigation into the mysterious collapse of the Baltic coastal fisheries, a story both interesting and meaty in the most literal sense.

https://balkaninsight.com/2025/05/30/sea-of-troubles-tadeusz-michrowski-on-the-twilight-of-polands-coastal-fisheries/

—
And you can catch up with the other episodes of Long Exposure on the link below.

https://balkaninsight.com/fellowship-for-journalistic-excellence/podcast/

19/08/2025

Fellowship stories are the product of a close collaboration between reporters who belong to the societies they cover and an Anglophone editor who does not.

This episode of the Fellowship's Long Exposure podcast examines an older model of journalistic collaboration across cultures. Eldin Hadzovic is a Sarajevo-based journalist who has worked as a fixer or field producer for news crews from abroad. Here, he talks about the highs and lows of the job.

https://balkaninsight.com/2025/05/30/the-fixers-revenge-part-i-eldin-hadzovic-on-working-with-the-foreign-press/

For more on the role of fixers and on some of the historical baggage associated with the term, you can hear an interview with Richard Pendry, a British filmmaker, former academic and foreign correspondent.

https://balkaninsight.com/2025/05/30/the-fixers-revenge-part-ii-richard-pendry-on-the-politics-and-economics-of-fixing/

And you can catch up on the link below with the rest of the episodes from the first season of Long Exposure.

https://balkaninsight.com/fellowship-for-journalistic-excellence/podcast/

06/08/2025

Romanians are proud to have one of the world’s fastest, most reliable internet networks, but rarely have a good word to say about their creaking justice system.

Read the story:

Romania’s law enforcement agencies are failing to tackle disturbing online violations and stop parents, including mothers, sexually exploiting children for financial gain.

04/08/2025

11/07/2025

🎧 Welcome to Long Exposure, a podcast about politics, society and long-form journalism between the Balkans and the Baltic Coast!

🎙 The podcast examines the craft of long-form journalism, and its ability to uncover hidden truths about society and politics in the region.

🤗 Our host is Neil Arun, the editor of the Fellowship of Journalistic Excellence. The first seven episodes are now available online: https://balkaninsight.com/fellowship-for-journalistic-excellence/podcast/

09/07/2025

BIRN’s Reporting Democracy Travel & Reporting Programme invites journalists from the Visegrad region to apply for a grant that covers professional fees and field reporting expenses. This is a unique opportunity to report from the Balkans and gain deeper insights into the region.