BELGRADE, 08.03,2020. – On 8 March International Women’s Day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls for more vigorous actions to be made by governments and employers’ organisations to improve gender equality as the Covid crisis has deepened gender inequality.

Members of the EFJ experts groups on labour rights and freelances have looked at the working conditions of journalists during this period and noticed that working-from-home and lockdown policy has had a much greater impact on female journalists.

In Germany, according to a study from the Hans-Böckler Stiftung, women spend 1.7 hours more on work concerning family duties, since men tend to work longer days in the home office. “For women, working in the home office often means that, due to the extra work for the family, they have little time to take care of their professional contacts. This makes them lose out in teams and important career networks,” said Andrea Roth, Chair of the labour rights experts group (LAREG).

It may seem that teleworking offers the opportunity to achieve a better work-life balance. In reality, it worsened the situation of women because they often take care of housework and childcare.

With working from home and everything taking place online, female journalists are especially at risk, since they have to put up with enormous consequences due to various threats, insults and pressure. The increase of those attacks is visible in numerous reports and surveys.

For instance, a survey conducted by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in late 2020 found that 73% of women journalists said they had experienced online violence. Notably, online attacks often have consequences offline as well: 20% of the respondents said they had been attacked or abused offline in connection to previous online violence.

On this day, the EFJ demands that EU institutions, governments and employers’ organisations improve the following areas:

• equal pay
• provide financial support to female workers
• higher unemployment benefits e.g. as compensation for the loss of wages due to the Covid-19 crisis
• more credits for childcare and pension for the years 2020 and 2021
• training on digital skills (included in recovery plans)
• financing of training on labour laws and conditions that includes gender inequalities (there is a provision in recovery plans called ‘promotion of decent work’)

SARAJEVO, March 6, 2021 – The Steering Commiteee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line strongly condemn today’s arrest of journalist and activist Nidžara Ahmetašević, who was detained in Sarajevo after a verbal conflict with police officers.

The Ministry of the Interior of Sarajevo Canton announced today that Ahmetašević was deprived of liberty for disturbing public order and peace and continuing to commit violations.

“Without any reason, she belittled and insulted authorized officials by obstructing them in the performance of official duties and tasks, thus committing a violation prescribed by the Law on Misdemeanors against Public Order and Peace of Sarajevo Canton,” the KS Ministry of the Interior said.

Journalist Ahmetašević managed to record her arrest with a mobile phone, and the recording was later published by the media. The recording shows a police officer telling Ahmetasevic to stop filming him because it is “forbidden”. However, after the journalist refused and warned the police officer that filming in a public area is not prohibited, she was arrested, as stated by the KS Ministry of the Interior, for “disturbing public order and peace” and obstructing officials in the performance of their duties.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists believes that today’s arrest and several hours of detention of Nidžara Ahmetašević in custody was completely unjustified and unnecessary. Nidžara Ahmetašević is known in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a journalist and human rights activist, who has not previously convicted and there is no reason to be keep her in custody as if she were a criminal and not a prominent citizen and journalist. The MUP of Sarajevo Canton should act in accordance with the law if a journalist has possibly committed a misdemeanor, but such treatment over her is an obvious demonstration of force. In addition, the video published in the media shows that the police used excessive force at the time of the arrest for no reason, and one of the officers made an extremely inappropriate comment that reads: “Put handcuffs on that fool, let’s go to Jagomir! (psychiatric hospital in Sarajevo)”.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists considers that this kind of a behavior of police officers is inadmissible during the performance of official duties! BH Journalists will ask the competent institutions to sanction the responsible police officers in accordance with the law for inappropriate comments and unnecessary use of force against the journalist during her arrest. We will also inform all relevant domestic and international institutions about this case which represents the most serious violation of human rights and freedoms.

Joint regional programme Fostering dialogue and social cohesion in and between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia – Dialogue for the Future (DFF) is pleased to announce the Call for submission of the best media reports that contributed to social cohesion and social dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Republic of Serbia and between them.

This initiative was launched in 2014 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), following discussions between the United Nations Secretary-General and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2015, during the Brdo- Brijuni Summit in Budva, Montenegro, the leaders of the region recognized the DFF project implemented in BiH and encouraged its expansion into South East Europe. The Programme is jointly implemented by UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO, in partnership with Presidency offices and governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. The Programme is funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).

The Regional DFF Joint Programme contributes to the pursuit of the Agenda 2030, in particular four of the sustainable development goals (SDGs): Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16).

Through providing spaces for dialogue and continued interaction between different groups living in the region, the programme aims to support collective identification of issues that affect all citizens and further contribute to enhanced interaction and collaboration between groups. The programme has a major focus on youth, media, and women in the three participating countries. Interested journalists are invited to submit their media reports on proposed topics for consideration prior to 18 March 2021. Selection committee will select 3 submissions (one from each country) to be awarded at the Regional Media Conference, which will be held on 26 March 2021.

Criteria for Submissions

Journalists are eligible to apply in all journalism forms (print, online, radio and TV) originally published in the media in any or each countries named in the Call.

Articles eligible for submission must appear in print, online, radio and TV media outlets during the 2020 calendar year.

Submissions must be received by the deadline- 18 March 2021. All submissions should be sent electronically to the email: [email protected]

All details are available HERE.

PRISTINA 05.03.2021 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo – AJK, in cooperation with UN Women Kosovo, has continued the training cycle, organizing the next online training on fake news and the psychology of new media.

Students of the Department of Journalism at the University of Pristina” Hasan Prishtina “, were trained by former reporter of the New York Times and BBC, Nicholas Wood and Dren Gërguri – lecturer at UP.

Through this training, the aim was to expand the knowledge about the risk of fake news during reporting, as the phenomenon of “fake news”, is one of the challenges that journalism is constantly facing not only in our country, but around the world.

Students had the opportunity to talk about the consequences of misinformation, reporting standards, the importance of media education and other important topics.

AJK in cooperation with UN Women Kosovo has so far organized dozens of workshops for local and central media journalists, as this is the third training being held with journalism students.

PRISTINA, 05.03.2021 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo – AJK, considers extremely disturbing the statements of the President of the Alternative for Change, Shqipërim Arifi, towards the correspondent of Radio Television of Kosovo in the Presevo Valley, Baki Rexhepi.

Arifi last night during an interview on a Kosovo television, accused Rexhepi of being a corrupt person and therefore does not declare himself for RTK, adding that there are facts about what he is talking about.

“No, I do not give interviews to RTK in the first place, first of all…. I boycott RTK, because the RTK correspondent in Presevo is a corrupt person… I have evidence for this, it is not a problem ,I have also informed RTK about this, but they have not taken any measures, I boycott RTK, let alone the local media, which for me personally slander incessantly”, he declared.

Regarding this statement, AJK has contacted the director of RTK, Festim Kabashi, who stated that he has not received any complaints about the correspondent, Baki Rexhepi.

“Since the beginning of my term as director of RTK-TV, (03.11.2020) I have not received any complaint from the chairman of Alternative for Change, Mr. Shqiprim Arifi, for any incorrect reporting or engagement of any journalist or correspondent of RTK ”.

The reaction of our colleague, Baki Rexhepi, was immediate, describing the accusations as extremely serious and that do not correspond at all to the truth. Moreover, Rexhepi has stated that he has always been boycotted as a journalist by Mr. Shqipërim Arifi.

Rexhepi, requesting a reaction from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, informed that he has already started to pursue all legal avenues against the statements of Mr. Arifi, who according to him with this accusation has tarnished his personal dignity and damaged his integrity and his professional credibility.

AJK asks of Mr. Shqiprim Arifi to apologize for the language used against our colleague and to address all of the  grievances through the judiciary.

PRISTINA, 04.03.2021 – Public Housing Enterprise – NPB has provided for one more year  two offices without financial costs for the functioning of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo – AJK.

AJK expresses its gratitude for the assistance and support of the leaders of NPB and the Municipality of Pristina, who through the continuation of this agreement have facilitated the work and functioning of the organization.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo expresses its commitment to respect the agreement and expresses its readiness to continue cooperation in the coming years.

SARAJEVO, 02.03.2021. – Journalists who decide to be investigators, to reveal various scandals, corrupt practices, anomalies in society, often face various problems: their phones are tapped, their emails are hacked, threatened, or be physically assaulting with the aim of intimidating and silencing. The situation is especially bad in small communities, where media workers, on the one hand, do not have the capacity to resist pressure and attacks, and on the other hand are overburdened with daily obligations so they do not have enough time to critically examine everyday events.

This was highlighted during the workshop on investigative journalism, which was held today through the Zoom platform organized by the BH Journalists Association.

In order for a journalistic story to be investigative, it must fulfill several basic elements, says educator Dragana Erjavec. “The story must be socially important for a larger number of people, it must reveal facts that were not known until then and, in the end, it is always the author’s work of journalists“, Erjavec points out, adding that these stories are worked on for several months, especially in our country, where the documentation is waiting for a very long time from the competent institutions, which is why it seems to journalists that their story is not relevant.

“Time is not the enemy of a good research story and its publication! If you discover the great truth, the irregularity and malversation of the story becomes relevant the moment it is published. The audience is always interested in what is happening in its immediate vicinity, as well as in stories about celebrities because they attract more attention. Also, we should not forget that all of us, but also the public, are interested in stories about ordinary people with whom we can identify“, said Erjavec.

Zinaida Đelilović, journalist of the magazine Žurnal, is of the opinion that working on investigative stories can sometimes be frustrating, because it can happen that after a few months of work it turns out that the story is not worth researching, that there is no basis for further continuation, or that the source gave false information. “Journalists are demoralized by the knowledge that good stories do not achieve the effect they wanted, because there is no reaction from the public or the competent institutions to all the evidence that contains good research stories. It can happen that even politicians and institutions do not send denials to such stories, guided by the motto: no one can do anything to us“, points out Đelilović.

Investigative journalism in local communities exists under constant pressure from economic and political centers of power, and media workers find it difficult to decide to produce analytical and investigative content because they do not have the mechanisms to feel safe and protected. Most local media do not have the capacity for investigative journalism, given the fact that most of them are funded from public budgets, and on the other hand, journalists work in daily newsrooms, so they do not have time to devote to investigative topics.

Anamarija Zadro, a journalist from the Bjlesak.info portal from Mostar, believes that the local media do not have too much time or money for investigative stories. “It is very difficult in the sea of ​​daily events and social topics to separate one journalist who would deal exclusively with investigative journalism. We do research topics when time and money allow. But it is certainly important to develop investigative journalism in local communities, because it is easier for local media to notice a deformation in society, which trained, investigative journalists can prepare well“, says Zadro, adding that it is difficult to obtain documents necessary to support stories given the different influences and connections of political and economic centers of power with public institutions that possess documents and information on a specific topic.

Melani Isović, a journalist from the eTrafika portal from Banja Luka, is of the opinion that more research texts are needed in all local communities, because there is a lot of material to work on stories about corruption, crime and other acts of politicians and their associates. “Unfortunately, journalists simply do not have the opportunity or resources to work on these stories due to the daily workload, concealment and failure to obtain the requested information from institutions, insufficient time for the story, lack of financial resources. It is possible and necessary to do research stories, texts in local communities, but we, as journalists, as well as our media houses, must be ready for possible inconveniences“, Isović points out.

Emina Karzić, editor of the Independent Television IC IC Kakanj, says that local media journalists find it difficult to decide on investigative journalism. “In the local media, we are not in such a situation that we have been working on only one topic for several months, due to daily obligations. However, we do not have to have extensive research on a daily basis, it is enough to ask critical and different questions at a given moment than those that our interlocutors and local powerful people would like. From time to time, a story can be done that will bring to the surface what the public wants and what it is factually proven“, believes Karzić, adding that in the end it gives respect to the journalist, but also to the media. With such stories, says Karzić, media workers in local communities show that they work in the interest of citizens, and those who think they are above the media and can control the media show that this is not the case.

The webinar participants agreed that for a good research story it is necessary to know the legal regulations on a particular topic, but also to support each statement from the text with documentation, which best protects the journalist and the newsroom from possible defamation lawsuits, and gives the story credibility. Investigative journalists, in the opinion of the participants, must be well informed, listen to what is happening in the community, ask questions in the right places, and be close to the source of information or know people who are close to those who have information.

A workshop on investigative journalism for journalists from local media was held within the project “Free Media for a Free Society” implemented by the BH Journalists Association in cooperation with the Association of Electronic Media in BiH with the support of the European Union