By Vuk Tesija
The week-long summer school brings together around 30 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. Over the course of the programme, they will learn how to distinguish suspicions from facts and set high standards for investigative reporting.
Jeta Xharra, Director of BIRN Kosovo, welcomed the participants and stressed that BIRN has for the past 15 years been inviting world class lecturers and journalists to share their expertise with participants.
Gentiana Murati, Deputy Director of BIRN HUB, shared her experiences about last year’s summer school and said the programme is one of the best ways available to learn the trade of journalism.
Lead trainer Blake Morrison, investigative projects editor with Reuters in New York, reminded the participants of their shared professional duty. “You represent me, but I also represent all of you. Journalists have a responsibility to each other,” Morrison said, emphasising the importance of ethics in the profession.
During the introductory presentation, Morrison presented a case study of a journalist who reported untruthfully, explaining the consequences for the profession as a whole and those who become the victims of fabricated stories.
Reade Levinson from the Reuters in London continued his masterclass in open-source intelligence (OSINT), teaching participants how to use free sources, from tracking ships and planes to geolocation. She instructed the participants in the secrets of reverse image searches and searches of business databases.
Alexenia Dimitrova, a journalist and OSINT expert, delivered a lecture titled ‘Cross-Border Sources for Your Climate Investigation’, in which she revealed the secrets of investigating climate change in the digital age.
The first day ended with a lecture by Morrison, titled ‘Formulating Story Ideas: How to Structure Your Pitch’, showing participants how to develop a story pitch from a good idea.
The participants, made up of everyone from experienced journalists to beginners, expressed their satisfaction with the first day. Some said they would save a lot of time in future research because they had learned many new tricks.