Eastern Europe

Apr 262013

Investigative Reporting Network Follows the Money—And Strikes Gold

by Irene Moskowitz

Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky may not have died in vain.

ICFJ’s Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is helping reveal the fate of millions missing from Russia’s treasury—money that Magnitsky contended Russian tax officials stole in a scheme with organized criminals.

OCCRP’s 13 member organizations include investigative reporting centers and news organizations throughout Eastern Europe cooperating to help people in the region understand how organized crime and corruption affect them.

Program: 
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

Proxy Platform

The OCCRP has created an international network of investigative reporters tracking and exposing organized crime across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

In Partnership With: 
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

One OCCRP project, The Big Bet, examines the criminal elements behind Eastern Europe’s thriving gambling industry.

This program challenges the development community to build citizen demand to reduce corruption, fraud, and other criminal activities through increased exposure to professionally-produced investigative journalism.

See video

Paul Radu’s work on his fellowship has led to a major program helping investigative reporters in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union collaborate across borders. He has also created web resources to help reporters dig for data.

The Balkans: Journalism Training (2002)

In Partnership With: 
Peace Institute

Knight International Journalism Fellow Chris Braithwaite completed nine months of journalism training in the Balkans in 2002, partnering with the Peace Institute.

Central and Eastern Europe: Journalism Training (1998)

In Partnership With: 
Center for Independent Journalism

Knight International Journalism Fellow Jean Garner completed three months of journalism training in Central and Eastern Europe in 1998, partnering with the Center for Independent Journalism.

Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management

In Partnership With: 
Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA)

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and its partner organization in the Caucasus -- the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) administered a two-year Master's-level certificate program at the Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management.

The Balkans: Tracking Corruption

In Partnership With: 
Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism

Knight International developed a comprehensive database and guide for journalists to investigate and expose corruption in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Apr 262010

Pursuing story on energy prices helps resolve municipal problems

by Miodrag Savic

Business stories can develop in unexpected, almost mysterious ways, I was reminded recently when the business desk at my host organization took a closer at soaring electricity prices in Serbia. Exploring the factors behind the price hikes showed that some of the long standing problems may not be so impossible to solve as people thought.

Serbia’s state-run power company Elektroprivreda Srbije, or EPS, has been a huge monopoly for decades, a remnant of the Communist era that has dodged several privatization attempts.

Sep 222009

Serbia’s liberals are not so liberal when it comes to media freedom

by Miodrag Savic

We all know that politics makes for strange bedfellows, but what happened in Serbia this summer is amazing even by Balkan standards. The country’s long and winding road to democracy took a very strange turn with a new law regulating the media industry. Outlets now face steep fines and the only immediate winners are - lawyers.