Two Stories of the Power of Investigative Reporting
Harnessing media to strengthen democratic, accountable and citizen-responsive governance in the Balkans
Jeta Xharra, 40, one of the best known investigative journalists in the Balkans, considers the story of Kosovo as her own — both of which rely on a strong entrepreneurial spirit.
She grew up in a family that valued education, especially for women, despite the cultural oppression of then Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, who came to power when she was a teenager and barred ethnic Albanians from attending school. Although her mother was forced out of her civil service job and became a housewife, she instilled the need for Jeta to learn English and continuously upgrade her skills to combat an environment of near constant discrimination.
In 1998, when the Kosovo war broke, she utilized her English to become a fixer and local producer for BBC News. A year later came the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombings — initiated, says Jeta, by news coverage and images of burned villages and the massacres of thousands of Albanians.
This early experience taught her a valuable lesson.
“I got the message that as long as things happened on camera and you got the world to see it, there was a chance for things to change for Kosovo. And they did,” she said.
She is now the country director of the USAID-supported Balkans Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) office in Kosovo, an independent, non-governmental organization, which she started in 2004 with only three staff and funds she raised on her own.
Today, it has evolved into a comprehensive media organization that aims to increase the professionalism of young journalists and lawyers, and employs over 70 journalists and editorial, administrative and technical staff in the production of high-quality investigative and analytical reporting. This includes the award-winning and most watched nonpartisan current affairs TV program, Life in Kosovo, for which Jeta is the presenter and editor-in-chief.
Since 2007, when Kosovo held its first direct mayor elections, Jeta hasn’t been shy in using this television program to get her shoes muddy traveling around the country. To strengthen democratic accountability, she visited more than 30 towns, capturing mayoral candidates’ campaign promises on video. The recorded promises were shown two years later during town hall meetings, providing information voters could use to evaluate candidates and representatives.
Over the last decade, the nonpartisan program has provided citizens the ability to gauge the accountability of their elected leaders. As a result citizens have voted 50 percent of mayors out of office, according to Jeta.
Through BIRN, Jeta has also worked to curb the rampant corruption in the judiciary — in which political interference and controversial appointments are commonplace — through placing 30 court monitors around the country to track proper implementation and enforcement of laws.
“We have either made or broken careers of judges and politicians,” said Jeta, unabashed as she has overcome sexual harassment, misogyny and many attempts to discredit her during her career. “The key thing in Kosovo is that powerful people are seen adhering just as much to the law as the brave prosecutor who would take up the case.”
BIRN Kosovo has also established an anti-corruption citizen reporting platform, which has yielded more than 10,000 reports on corruption or injustice. “We are going to keep pushing and advocating,” said Jeta.
A Regional Impact
In Kosovo — and around the region — BIRN is operating within an environment in which journalists often face physical attacks and intimidation, difficulty in gaining access to information from government officials, and a lack of effective regulations to ensure media ownership transparency.
To curb this trend, USAID is equipping the BIRN network of 300 journalists in Bosnia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania with technical expertise to strengthen their reporting. USAID is also providing advanced multimedia skills for young reporters.
Ivana Dervishi, 25, joined BIRN Albania in 2014 as a translator, but her natural journalist skills were quickly identified after she fearlessly called a local mayor to hold him accountable for a paid diploma scandal.
Since then, equipped with BIRN-funded on-the-job training, she has established herself as one of only a few pioneering women working behind the camera to bring quality video reporting and photojournalism to Albania. Her reports focus on judicial reform, gender equality, students rights and the environment.
Against the backdrop of media outlets whose links with politics and business have led to increased censorship among journalists in Albania, Ivana said BIRN has become a trusted source of objective news locally, regionally and internationally.
Democracy is a relatively new concept in Albania, which opened its borders post communism in 1991. BIRN Albania is playing an important role by supporting high-quality journalism and the ability of civil society to hold the government and public institutions accountable to citizens.
“People know that if BIRN is involved, they are going to get a correct story,” she said. “And if they don’t like the story, they have an opportunity to say what they think.”
About the Author
Jessica Benton Cooney is the Lead Communications and Outreach Specialist for USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. Follow @USAIDDRG for more.
