 | |
| Type | Regional news website |
|---|---|
| Owner | Balkan Investigative Reporting Network |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Language | |
| Headquarters | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Website | balkaninsight |
Balkan Insight is a website of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that focuses on news, socio-political analysis, commentary, andinvestigative reporting fromSoutheastern Europe. It is run by journalists in southeast Europe. BIRN was founded in 2004 as a network ofnon-governmental organizations to promote a strong, independent, and free media in theBalkans andEastern Europe.[1][2]Balkan Insight is the successor of BIRN's "Balkan Crisis Report" newsletter.[3] It reports from "Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Bulgaria,Croatia,Kosovo,North Macedonia,Montenegro,Moldova,Romania andSerbia, with occasional coverage ofTurkey andGreece. From 2019, Balkan Insight is extending its coverage onUkraine, theCzech Republic,Slovakia,Hungary andPoland."[2]
Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported thatBalkan Insight is a "highly regarded Internet portal"[4] and BIRN is "valued for its independence and seriousness".[5] In 2015, the journalAcademicus International Scientific Journal reported thatBalkan Insight was "the leading news site covering the Western Balkans Region", and often published opinions from international leaders.[1] According to Robin Wilson,Balkan Insight is a valuable source of objective analysis of ex-Yugoslav countries, in contrast to Yugoslav media that split up along nationalist lines. Wilson stated that BI attracts quality contributors and maintains separation between reporting and opinion.[3]
BIRN journalists and reports that have received awards includeKrenar Gashi and the BIRN investigative team, who won the Best Print/Online Story of 2006 for "Ex-Policemen Run Kosovo Passport Scam" handed out by the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo.Arbana Xharra was the winner of the 2006 journalism competition organized by theUnited Nations Development Program (UNDP),Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency; for her reporting on corruption in bothBalkan Insight and the Kosovo daily newspaperKoha Ditore.[clarification needed][citation needed] In 2020, BIRN received the Press Freedom Award from the Austrian chapter ofReporters Without Borders.[6][7]
Donors to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network include theAustrian Development Agency,Balkan Trust for Democracy, the philanthropic initiative Civitates, Delegation of theEuropean Union toMontenegro,ERSTE Foundation,European Commission,Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung,Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Dutch Fund for Regional Partnerships/Matra and theSwedish International Development Cooperation Agency.[8]
Media related toBalkan Insight at Wikimedia Commons