Balkan Investigative Reporting Network

📧 In this month’s newsletter:

🔹 Meet the People Behind BIRN - Irvin Pekmez, BIRN BiH/Detektor.ba awarded journalist
🔹 contributors were awarded the European Press Special Prize and the International Border Stories Prize
🔹 A cooperation agreement is signed by BIRN BiH and the Faculty of Criminalistics
🔹 Balkan Insight stories that deserve a second look
🔹 Our Summer Guide: what to read, listen to and watch

Remember to subscribe if you haven't already: https://mailchi.mp/birn/around-birn-in-thirty-days-june2026?e=7d33dd4d1c

🤩 Ohrid has many stunning places.

If you have not yet visited Ohrid or if you would like to return, we invite you to submit your applications by July 10 and participate in the of Investigative Reporting: https://birn.eu.com/news-and-events/birn-summer-school-of-investigative-reporting-2026-dont-just-report-the-news-investigate-it/

💡 This is a space for journalists who want to move beyond daily reporting and focus on real investigative work.

BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting 2026: Don’t Just Report the News - Investigate It! - BIRN Fast stories fade. The important ones need digging. Applications are now open for the BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting 2026. This is a space for journalists who want to move beyond daily reporting and focus on real investigative work.

📜 New report!

Access to information laws in the region are strong on paper, but reporters still have to deal with administrative silence, delays, weak enforcement, and practices that aren't always consistent with the law. Learn more:

BIRN Report: Freedom of Information in Balkans Still Hampered by Delays and Weak Enforcement - BIRN New report says legal guarantees on access to information across region are strong on paper, but journalists still face administrative silence, delays, weak enforcement and inconsistent institutional practice.

Hurry up! Do not miss this opportunity!

Apply Now for a BIRN Reporting Democracy Grant - BIRN From Poznań to Podgorica, and from Prague to Plovdiv, journalists across Central and Southeast Europe are invited to pitch ideas for in-depth reporting projects on issues shaping democracy across the region.