Center for Investigative Reporting (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Encyclopedia
The Center for Investigative Reporting is a non-profit investigative center that writes about problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina
especially corruption and organized crime
. It is based in Sarajevo but covers much of the Balkan region. Its stories appear in local media including Oslobođenje, Vecernji list
, EuroBlic, Dnevni Avaz
, Start Magazin, and other publications. It also operates an online publication called "Izvor" or The Source and distributes an English language newsletter.
CIN was formed in 2004 under a grant by USAID and is funded by various government and non-profit sources as well as some commercial revenues . CIN stories use international standards for investigative reporting and it tries to avoid unnamed sources and other practices common in regional media. CIN stories are rigorously fact checked.
Its staff of 10 reporters have reported on corrupt energy traders, prime ministers who get almost free apartments, stolen privatizations, cigarette and drug smugglers, diploma mill
universities and other corrupt practices. CIN's work has led to arrests, firings, investigations and even jailings.
One of CIN's better known stories looked at how then BiH Federation Prime Minister Nedžad Branković
got an almost free apartment. CIN detailed each step of the process with records showing how the Prime Minister selected the apartment, the government bought it, moved it into an inventory of excess apartments and then allowed the Prime Minister to privatize it for nearly worthless privatization script—all in the matter of a few weeks. CIN's work, which involved finding a second sources of documents that had been removed from the official records, led to two investigations of Brankovic and then an indictment by cantonal prosecutors. A citizens group plastered the town with graffiti and later billboards protesting Brankovic's windfall. He resigned in June 2009 after he lost power in his own political party.
The center also was a founding member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a regional consortium of investigative centers, journalists and news organizations who report on transnational organized crime.
award for journalism integrity. It won the Media Plaque for Excellence in Reporting in the 2007 Vecernji list awards.
CIN and its OCCRP partners along with SCOOP won the first Global Shining Light Award in 2006 for reporting under duress for its stories on energy traders. CIN, along with its partners in Romania, Bulgaria and Albania showed that while energy traders were getting sweetheart deals from the government and making tens of millions of dollars and adding very little to the economy, pensioners and the working poor were barely able to pay their energy bills and were often living in darkness. In 2009, CIN was part of a team led by the International Consortium of Investigative Reporters that won both the Overseas Press Club Award and the Tom Renner Award for crime reporting from Investigative Reporters and Editors
for their work on tobacco smuggling.
CIN's OCCRP partners include the Centrul Roman Pentru Jurnalism Investigatie, the Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Center, the Centar za istrazivacko novinarstvo - Serbia, Investigative Journalists of Armenia (HETQ) and others.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
especially corruption and organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
. It is based in Sarajevo but covers much of the Balkan region. Its stories appear in local media including Oslobođenje, Vecernji list
Vecernji list
Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia...
, EuroBlic, Dnevni Avaz
Avaz
Dnevni Avaz is a daily newspaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is published in Sarajevo.-Background:Dnevni avaz evolved from a monthly publication Bošnjački Avaz which was first published in September 1993. In 1994 it became known simply as Avaz and was published weekly in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, Start Magazin, and other publications. It also operates an online publication called "Izvor" or The Source and distributes an English language newsletter.
CIN was formed in 2004 under a grant by USAID and is funded by various government and non-profit sources as well as some commercial revenues . CIN stories use international standards for investigative reporting and it tries to avoid unnamed sources and other practices common in regional media. CIN stories are rigorously fact checked.
Its staff of 10 reporters have reported on corrupt energy traders, prime ministers who get almost free apartments, stolen privatizations, cigarette and drug smugglers, diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
universities and other corrupt practices. CIN's work has led to arrests, firings, investigations and even jailings.
One of CIN's better known stories looked at how then BiH Federation Prime Minister Nedžad Branković
Nedžad Brankovic
Dr. Nedžad Branković is a Bosnian politician. He is the former premier of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina after resigning in June of 2009. He holds a Ph.D...
got an almost free apartment. CIN detailed each step of the process with records showing how the Prime Minister selected the apartment, the government bought it, moved it into an inventory of excess apartments and then allowed the Prime Minister to privatize it for nearly worthless privatization script—all in the matter of a few weeks. CIN's work, which involved finding a second sources of documents that had been removed from the official records, led to two investigations of Brankovic and then an indictment by cantonal prosecutors. A citizens group plastered the town with graffiti and later billboards protesting Brankovic's windfall. He resigned in June 2009 after he lost power in his own political party.
The center also was a founding member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a regional consortium of investigative centers, journalists and news organizations who report on transnational organized crime.
Awards
CIN has won a number of awards including the 2007 Online Journalism Award for investigative reporting at a small website for its work on food safety. In 2007 it also won the BiH Transparency InternationalTransparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
award for journalism integrity. It won the Media Plaque for Excellence in Reporting in the 2007 Vecernji list awards.
CIN and its OCCRP partners along with SCOOP won the first Global Shining Light Award in 2006 for reporting under duress for its stories on energy traders. CIN, along with its partners in Romania, Bulgaria and Albania showed that while energy traders were getting sweetheart deals from the government and making tens of millions of dollars and adding very little to the economy, pensioners and the working poor were barely able to pay their energy bills and were often living in darkness. In 2009, CIN was part of a team led by the International Consortium of Investigative Reporters that won both the Overseas Press Club Award and the Tom Renner Award for crime reporting from Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the quality of investigative reporting. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training classes for journalists. Its headquarters is in Columbia, Missouri, at the University of...
for their work on tobacco smuggling.
CIN's OCCRP partners include the Centrul Roman Pentru Jurnalism Investigatie, the Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Center, the Centar za istrazivacko novinarstvo - Serbia, Investigative Journalists of Armenia (HETQ) and others.