Before he became a spokesman for the Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) in 2008, he worked as a professional journalist at the newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija in Split, Croatia.
In addition to being a journalist, he was a columnist, deputy editor in chief and chief editor for the correspondence office in Zagreb. He completed his Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb.
German Filkov is an analyst and researcher in anticorruption and institutional transparency and has trained more than 250 journalists in investigative journalism and corruption reporting.
He spent 12 years as a TV business journalist and news editor where he reported daily on important socio-economic changes in Macedonia for the highest rated TV station in the country. He now uses his wealth of experience in media for civil society work. Filkov has conducted extensive research that addresses measures to be taken by central and local governments to reduce corruption. He also regularly participates in designing anti-corruption initiatives and strategies. Due to his expertise, Filkov has been invited to a number of regional and international workshops and conferences, to train leaders and organizations in good governance, anti-corruption methodology, and journalism. In 2002-2003, he held the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship as a visiting scholar at the Missouri School of Journalism. In 2005, he co-founded the Center for Civil Communications, one of the leading anticorruption NGOs in the country.
Vladan Joler is Associate Professor and Chair of New Media Department at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia.
Joler is also the director of the SHARE Foundation. Share Foundation, nonprofit organization that is dedicated to protecting the rights of Internet citizens and promoting positive values of openness, decentralization, free access and exchange of knowledge, information and technology. The activities of Share Foundation are supported by cooperation and friendship with a wide network of various institutions, individuals and organizations.
Country Director, Kosovo
Editor-in-Chief
Jeta Xharra is a renowned journalist in Kosovo and the Balkans.
Since 2005, she has been the Country Director of the BIRN office in Kosovo and the editor-in-chief of Kosovo’s most-watched current affairs TV programme, Life in Kosovo.
Xharra first got into journalism by working as a fixer/local producer for BBC News and Channel 4 in 1998 and later became Manager of the BBC Kosovo Bureau. In 1999, she worked for BBC News in Albania and Macedonia.
She graduated with an MA in War Studies from King’s College London (2000) and an MA with Distinction in Screenwriting from the London College of Printing (2002).
She has published a front-page article in The Independent and other articles in The Economist, Sunday Telegraph and Jane’s Intelligence Review. While in the UK, Xharra worked for the Foreign News Planning Desk at the BBC World Service.
In 2003, Xharra became Project Director for the IWPR Kosovo office, where she made an impact with her vigilant and challenging moderation of popular current affairs programmes broadcast on the main Kosovo TV channels, RTK and KTV.
Under Xharra’s supervision, Kosovo was the first office in the IWPR Balkan project to develop a three-month journalism training programme, which attracted over 200 people for 20 places.
Warless, a play that Xharra wrote in English, was chosen as one of the 10 best plays among 550 that competed in the Young Writers Festival at the Royal Court Theatre in London, where it had a public reading on December 10 2004.
From Exposure to Impact: Why Some Investigations Spark Change and Others Don’t
This session will explore the key factors that determine whether investigative stories lead to real-world change, examining case studies, strategies for maximizing impact, and the role of timing, storytelling, and stakeholder engagement.
Don Ray is a multi-media producer, writer, author, journalist and lecturer. He began his television journalism career as a researcher with the investigative news team Unit 4 at KNBC-TV, now NBC4, in Burbank, California in 1978.
In 1980 he worked as a news writer, insert producer and assignment editor there before moving to the Phoenix-area public broadcast station, KAET-TV, in Tempe, Arizona, as a producer/director/reporter for the programs “Arizona Weekly” and “Horizon”.
In 1981, he wrote and produced “Close-up Buscaglia,” and conducted an in-depth, one-on-one interview with the popular educator and author, Leo Buscaglia. Ray returned to Los Angeles in 1982 where he was a news writer for KNXT-TV, now KCBS-TV, in Hollywood.
The following year, Ray produced investigative segments for KCAL-TV in Hollywood. In 1987, Ray returned to KCBS-TV as an investigative producer for the investigative news team Channel 2 Investigations, where he won top writing and investigative reporting awards.
In 1989 Ray opened an independent production company, ENG Productions, where he provided investigative research, writing, videography and production assistance for all of the major networks.
Ray broke the story with KNBC-TV of the child molestation investigation by police of rock star Michael Jackson in 1993. In 1995, Ray produced television segments for “The Crusaders” and “Inside Edition.” Ray was a segment producer with Dateline NBC’s two-hour special on Michael Jackson in 2004. Also that year, he conducted many of the on-camera interviews for the documentary “One Six Right” (2004).
Currently, Ray is producing independent documentaries.
Drew Sullivan is a journalist and media development specialist who has worked for almost a decade in Eastern Europe and Eurasia
He founded the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2004 and served as its editor and first director before the center became an independent, locally run organisation.
He is the advising editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Program, an organisation he founded together with a consortium of centers, media outlets and reporters from a dozen countries.
He founded the Journalism Development Network, an innovative media development organization with programmess in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
He was a reporter or editor on work that won the Online Journalism Award for investigative reporting, the first ever Global Shining Light Award, The Tom Renner Award for crime reporting, the Overseas Press Club award and many other prizes.
He worked as an investigative reporter for the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville and for the Special Assignment Team of the Associated Press in New York. He has served on the board of directors for Investigative Reporters and Editors and the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting.
He has a degree in Aerospace Engineering and worked for six years on the Space Shuttle project for Rockwell Space Systems. He spent one year as a professional stand-up comedian.
http://cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/CIMA-Libel_Tourism-Report.pdf
Savica Pureber works as a supreme state prosecutor in the office of the state prosecutor general of the Republic of Slovenia.
For a number of years, her special attention has been dedicated to crimes against human rights, in particularly to human trafficking, enslavement and exploitation through prostitution. She also coordinates the work of district attorneys in this field. Since 2003, she has been a member of an interdisciplinary working group established by the Slovenian government to fight against human trafficking.
Helena Bengtsson is database editor for the News and Current Affairs Department at Sveriges Television, the national broadcasting company in Sweden.
Since 1994, she has served as a researcher, assistant producer and projects editor with the company. During 2006-07, she was a database editor at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington DC, USA.
In 2010 she and two colleagues won the Great Journalism Award, Innovator of the Year for Valpejl – a interactive database on the web containing 54 000 candidates for the Swedish election.
Twitter: HelenaBengtsson
Company website: www.svt.se/nyheter
Adjunct Professor at Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
Jim Mintz has been an adjunct professor of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School for the past three years. Jim is president of the Mintz Group, a research and investigative firm, and has spent 30 years conducting investigations worldwide. He helped pioneer the use of sophisticated resources by law firms in the 1970s as an in-house investigator at a Washington, D.C. law firm.
In 1980, Newsweek said of their unique in-house group: “What sets [them] apart – and a few others around the nation – is their ability to take comprehensive looks at complicated situations and make sense out of them.” His articles include “Harassment 101: How to Handle Complaints” for the Wall Street Journal, “Strategies for Managing Complex Corporate Investigations” for the Practicing Law Institute and “Background Checking on Board Candidates” for Directors & Boards.
Two of Jim’s notable recent assignments:
Dragana Nikolic Solomon is the Head of the Media Department (2007 – present) at the OSCE Mission to Serbia where she serves as senior adviser to the Head of Mission on media issues, communicates OSCE media policy to Serbian Government, media and NGOs, as well as briefing the international community on the media environment
She also advises on the drafting of the new media legislation and provides expert counsel to legislators, the international community and governmental agencies regarding current legislation and its compliance with international standards.
Ms. Nikolic develops and manages projects, including capacity building for Serbian journalists to increase the quality of reporting, with special emphasis on South and South West Serbia.
Her extensive background includes being Serbia editor and director for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network BIRN, as well as Balkans assistant editor for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting.
