The fourth annual BIRN Summer School was held at Lake Bled in Slovenia from August 25 to 31.
From August 19 to 24, the school in Mlini, Croatia, equipped journalists with the skills they need to address the challenges of investigative journalism today.
The latest edition of BIRN’s summer school brings together almost 35 journalists from across Central and Eastern Europe for a week of investigative reporting training with a focus on collaborative, cross-border stories.
On the fourth day of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting, participants learned about investigative podcasts and cross-border journalism.
On Thursday, sessions on investigative podcasts started the fourth day of the BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Michael Montgomery, a senior reporter and producer for Reveal, talked about the fundamentals of investigative podcasts. Podcasts are getting more popular every year, with more than half lasting over 30 minutes.
Podcasts are visually powerful forms of audio that tell big, sometimes emotionally complex stories and offer clarity in chaos. “For many podcasts, the central framing device is a question,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery talked about the old dramatic principle, the three-act story structure that divides a story into setup, confrontation and resolution.
“The work we do with podcasts is very emotional. It’s very important to master the three-act story structure if you want to do investigative podcasts,” he advised.
Taja Topolovec, Co-Founder and CEO of podcrto.si, said that a podcast is much more intimate than just reading an article. “It’s like someone talking directly into your ear. People are waiting for the next episode to come out,” Topolovec said.
“For us, podcasting was a way to connect more with an international audience, to get more international context. In the last few years, podcasting has become a very important product,” the Slovenian podcaster said.
Sandrine Rigaud, editor of Forbidden Stories, spoke about the four essential characteristics of cross-border journalism. Journalists from different countries decide on an idea of mutual interest, gather and share material, and then publish the story for their audience.
“The challenges include cultural differences, different practices and standards, the timing of publication, and allocation of time resources,” Rigaud told the participants.
“Sharing is one of the golden rules of collaboration. We share findings, interview notes, documents, and plans so we do not duplicate. We don’t have to share the identity of confidential sources, but we share quotes, off-the-record information,” the French journalist said.
The Summer School continues on Friday with investigating migration and human rights abuses and an introduction to data journalism.
On the third day of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting, participants learned about the importance of digital security and mental health.
On Wednesday, sessions on digital security kicked off the third day of the BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Milica Stojanovic, BIRN journalist and digital security trainer, explained the importance of cyber security. “You are responsible for yourself, your colleagues and your sources,” she told the participants.
“Digital security is a habit, like locking the door when you leave home,” Stojanovic said. She walked participants through the most secure applications and offered tips on setting the best passwords.
“Passwords must be at least 16 characters long and must be changed every six months. Have a different password for each account,” Stojanovic advised.
Co-founder of The Self-Investigation Mar Cabra spoke about mental health and the problem of burnout. “I believe the journalism industry is broken. We need to make it healthier,” Cabra said.
Last year, 60 per cent of journalists worldwide reported high levels of anxiety, and one in five showed signs of depression, according to reports.
“Never fail to ask yourself how you are doing,” Cabra advised. She explained that ignoring our body’s signals, doing work not aligned with our values, and lacking hobbies can all lead to burnout.
The Summer School continues on Thursday with an introduction to investigative podcasts and cross-border journalism.
On the second day of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting, participants were introduced to visual investigations and had a panel discussion on journalism in exile.
The second day of BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting in Thessaloniki, Greece on Tuesday started with a session on open-source investigations entitled How to Expose Police Violence.
Marija Ristic, manager at Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab, explained how open-source elements and information can be used to analyse policing weapons and equipment.
Ristic also talked about journalists in demonstrations. “Journalists should be considered bystanders at protests. Any attack on them is generally not allowed,“ Ristic said.
Sam Joiner, visual stories editor at the Financial Times, talked about how to take a complex story and make it digestible.
“Visuals have to carry you through the story. Visual journalism allows you to understand stories differently. It requires lots of people to think outside the box,” Joiner told participants.
“There are two types of projects. Stories that use visuals to explain topics and themes that transcend the daily news agenda. And there are visual investigations, public interest journalism using visual evidence to break stories of global significance,” Joiner said before presenting the FT’s visual investigation into North Korean oil-smuggling.
The general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Gutierrez, spoke about helping journalists in exile.
After Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, “our first reaction was to try to evacuate colleagues from Ukraine. But they wanted to stay. So we changed our plans and provided them with safety equipment so they could continue their work,” Gutierrez said.
“We have a programme in Kosovo. We convinced the government to offer shelter to 20 Ukrainian journalists in exile. We launched the programme in March 2022, and the first journalists arrived the following month,” he continued.
The European Federation of Journalists doesn’t have comprehensive European data on journalists in exile, partly because many don’t want to be put on a list, Gutierrez explained. Most of the Russian journalists who fled to the EU now live in Germany or the Netherlands, he added.
Journalist and researcher Hanna Liubakova left Belarus after the presidential elections in 2020, when the government intensified its crackdown on independent journalism.
Liubakova said she fled after she was put under surveillance. “For security reasons, I had to change my location every few days. Then I received a signal that it was better for me to leave the country,” she said.
She told participants that Belarusians are still interested in independent news and use social media such as TikTok as well as websites to follow what is happening in the country.
The Summer School continues on Wednesday with digital security training and a workshop about mental health and burnout.
BIRN’s 13th Summer School of Investigative Reporting is bringing together 36 journalists from South-East and Central European countries for a week-long training to develop skills, explore new techniques and cooperate in cross-border stories.
This year’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting started on Monday in Thessaloniki, Greece.
During the week-long programme, journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Georgia and Uzbekistan will master their investigative skills and techniques and learn from Pulitzer and European Press Prize winners.
Regional Director of BIRN HUB Milka Domanovic welcomed the participants to one of BIRN’s flagship programmes. “We hope that you will be able to implement the knowledge you gain here and connect even after the course is finished,” Domanovic said.
Ivana Nikolic, Programme Manager at BIRN’s Investigative Reporting Initiative Programme, presented the agenda to participants selected from a record-breaking number of applications – more than 220 this year.
“We are very proud to have had this amazing number of applications, and to be honest, it was very hard to select the best ones,” Nikolic said.
During the week, participants will learn about basics of investigative reporting; OSINT; visual investigations; how to stay digitally secure while working on a story; essentials of cross-border reporting; how to avoid burnout in journalism; how to master data journalism, etc.
In addition, there will be two panel discussions: one dedicated to “journalism in exile”, that is, reporting about one’s country from afar, and one dedicated to investigating the migrant crisis in Greece. The full programme can be found here.
The first day started with Michael Montgomery, a senior reporter and producer for Reveal. He talked about the fundamentals of investigative reporting. “It’s less often than not that you will come up with a completely new story. A new angle on a story that’s been covered can be even more impactful,” Montgomery said, advising participants to follow their passion and check their sense of outrage when choosing a story.
“It’s always easier to get someone to confirm something you already know or think you know than to get them to volunteer information you do not possess. That’s super important, to get people to talk. Most people don’t like to think they are spilling secrets,” Montgomery told participants.
Marija Ristic, Manager at Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab, introduced Open Source Investigations.
“Open-source researchers expose themselves and the subjects of the information they collect to various digital threats. Understanding how to protect yourself and the data generated during your research from threats is essential knowledge for digital investigators,” she said.
The first day ended with a workshop on story pitching, with journalists sharing ideas.
Ricardo Gutiérrez is the General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing over 320,000 journalists across 45 countries.
A former journalist for the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, he is senior lecturer at Université Libre de Bruxelles, ULB. He is a member of the Belgian Press Council CDJ and of the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation ETUC. He has conducted training for journalists on hate speech, ethical journalism and reporting on ethnicity and religion. He is also a member of the board of experts of the Justice For Journalists Foundation and is a member of the jury of the Fetisov Journalism Awards. You can catch a glimpse into his interests (i.e. journalism and media freedom) by following him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Molenews1) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RicardoGutierrezVe).
Hanna Liubakova is a journalist and analyst from Belarus.
Hanna is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council. She has written about the latest developments in Belarus for The Washington Post, The Economist, Deutsche Welle, and other international outlets. She started her career at the only independent Belarusian channel Belsat TV, now banned by the regime in Minsk. Liubakova reported in four languages from various countries and regions, including Belgium, the UK, Poland, and Chechnya. She is currently writing a book about Belarus.
Liubakova is widely recognised as one of Belarus’s leading voices of the free press. Her coverage of the protests against the authoritarian regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka garnered significant attention. She was forced to flee Belarus and later learned she was on the regime’s wanted list. Despite this, she has continued to report on the people’s resistance, which has become even more crucial amid the Belarusian regime’s participation in the war against Ukraine.
Liubakova won the 2023 One Young World Journalist of the Year Award. In 2021, she was a European Press Prize finalist. In 2019, she was the first fellow from Belarus chosen to participate in the World Press Institute Fellowship in the US.
Hanna holds an MA with distinction in International Journalism from Brunel University London, where she won the Peter Caws Prize for best postgraduate dissertation in 2017. She also received the Vaclav Havel Journalism Fellowship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in 2014.
Stavros is a reporter and editor at We Are Solomon.
Stavros is a reporter and editor. He has worked for the Agence France-Presse and inside story, and has participated in cross-border investigations with Lighthouse Reports and Investigate Europe. He’s a member of Reporters United. His reports have been published in European media. He was shortlisted for the European Press Prize ‘21 and won the IJ4EU Impact Award ‘22. In 2019 he was selected as a fellow for BIRN’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence (BFJE). He has been trained in data journalism at Columbia University in New York on a fellowship.
Apostolis Fotiadis is a researcher and investigative journalist.
Apostolis covers EU policy issues including developments in population movement, security and defence, privacy and big data policies. In the past, he has co-operated with many international media outlets and organisations. He has authored numerous reports, published two books on EU migration and border control policies and has been a member of numerous cross-border investigations. He currently co-operates with investigative outlet Solomon and also works as a freelance researcher.
Eleni Stamatoukou is a Communications Manager and a data journalist based in Athens, Greece.
Eleni joined BIRN Hub in 2021 as a Communications Manager. She is a data journalist based in Athens, Greece. She has worked for Greek and foreign media and the NGO SolidarityNow. Eleni has covered a big range of issues: migration, refugee crisis, corruption, LGBTI and human rights, politics, business, sports, environment, health and culture.
Eleni is a Fellow of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and Columbia Journalism School 2019.
Eleni has a BA in Balkan Studies from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and an MA in Social Anthropology (Europe) from Sussex University, United Kingdom.
She speaks Greek, English, Turkish and Serbian.
