Jovo Martinović is a Montenegrin investigative journalist who covers organized crime. Charged with drug trafficking, he spent 14 months in jail. His trial is going on. A portrait of an inconvenient journalist.
The main Romanian publishing groups are linked to political parties. In the last months, several journalists have resigned due to political pressure. An interview with the investigative journalist Cătălin Prisacariu, who struggles to maintain his independence: “Being honest in Romania is also a matter of luck”.
In these days TV Pink has launched a media campaign against Tamara Skrozza: an independent journalist who pointed out that TV appearances of President Vučić's party leaders are significantly higher than those of opposition representatives.
“We want an independent public service!”. On December 27th hundreds of Montenegrin citizens gathered in front of the parliament in order to denounce the political pressures on the public information service. During the demonstration they symbolically broke the chains that enclosed a television.
KRIK is one of the few investigative media in Serbia, but it is also the main target of attacks by Serbian tabloids, the “watchdogs” of the political power. Despite pressures and the lack of means, its six journalists have earned a solid reputation with their extensive investigations of corruption and organized crime. An interview.
In 2015, long before the Tahiri affair shaken the Rama government, a former Albanian policeman had already reported the facts. His findings on the extent of cannabis smuggling were not appreciated by Albanian authorities and made him an unwelcome person in his own country. Dritan Zagani is now a political refugee in Switzerland.
In five countries of the world including Serbia, Facebook is testing a new formula: only sponsored contents are visible to the whole users. In one week, the rates of presence on the pages of independent media have thus collapsed. In Vučić's Serbia, social networks had been so far the only alternative to traditional media, heavily controlled by the government.
A member of GERB party threatened a journalist, and his career was over. But this is not how it works in Bulgaria, an EU country with no freedom of expression, according to the ranking of Reporters Without Borders.
The Western Balkans Media Days took place in Tirana from 8 to 10 November. The debates gave rise to an intense discussions: a gloomy picture of the freedom of the press in the region came up from the conference. Did the European Union get the message?
Insecurity, political and economic pressures: Albanian journalists constantly report on press freedom deterioration. Even an experienced professional like Artan Rama was heavily censored. It was October 2016 when his magazine “Publicus” was brutally interrupted by the heads of private television Vizion Plus.
