AUTHOR: BELMA BULJUBAŠIĆ Photo credits: Vladan Cvetković Social media is a powerful tool of the 21st century. Although its positive aspects are immense, it is often abused and used for propaganda and manipulation. A large amount of lies, disinformation and insinuation reach great numbers of people through social media networks. This is especially true of Twitter and Facebook, where problematic […]

AUTHOR: KATERINA SMILEVA Photo credits: Katerina Smileva The dilemma of whether the influence of online media is more positive or negative, will plague us for as long as these platforms exist. The fact is that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social networks have changed our lives. They have altered how we report on and share information. From one side, this […]

AUTHOR: FAHRI HISENI Photo credits: Fahri Hiseni It is difficult to comment on interethnic relations in any society and doing so from a Balkan perspective is no exception. One reason for this is the complex historical context within which the countries of this peninsula exist. In each of the Balkan societies today, there is a great appetite for looking back […]

AUTHOR: TEOFIL PANČIĆ We cannot meaningfully speak about the media and the challenge of dealing with the past in Serbia before we answer a few key questions: Is the past even over? Is our present nothing more than our past, thinly veiled? Can a society, and its media, properly deal with the past if it does not seriously deal with […]

The transparency of institutions in Bitola is improving. Some even have spokespersons that hold press conferences, and most of the authorities answer reporters’ phone calls now. However, local journalists still struggle to obtain needed information quickly. As we are living in the age of electronic media, journalists should be able to obtain information quickly and, most importantly, official responses to […]

The media is the power to present the world in a certain way. And that is why there are so many different and conflicting ways in which the meaning of the world can be constructed. It is of elementary importance what is presented and who is presenting it, what is being left out and who is doing it, and how […]

AUTHOR: SARA VELAGA In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first step towards building a better future is one which takes us back to the past. It is necessary for everyone to come back and confront the past events that have characterized them, both as individuals and as part of a collective. Journalists, in particular, should seek and determine the truth behind […]

At the beginning of 2015, I read a story on Balkan Insight about 170 Serbs, 90 from Kosovo, who were welcoming in another New Year at Krnjača, the last remaining collective centre for refugees in Serbia’s capital. During the wars in the former Yugoslavia, many ethnic Serbs fled from their homes in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. In 1999, […]

AUTHOR: DINKO GRUHONJIC Reporting on topics related to Serbia’s wartime past has decreased in Serbia in recent years, including coverage of trials for war crimes and for victims of war crimes and their families. Since the mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has ended, and international pressure has weakened, serious issues relating to Serbia’s wartime […]

AUTHOR: SERBEZE HAXHIAJ It will be difficult to forget the image of a scared face and the testimonies shared with me by a Roma woman who was a victim of wartime and post-war sexual violence in Kosovo. During the war, she was raped by Serb military combatants. Two weeks after the war ended, her house was targeted by ethnic Albanian, […]