Using Big Data and Multimedia to boost Quality and Independent Journalism in Albania
BIRN Albania
Beneficiaries:Local Journalists; Investigative Reporters; Journalism students and
young graduates; Local NGO representatives and activists. Our final
beneficiaries is general public.
07.10.2020-06.10.2023
Overall Objective
Enabling environment for Albanian journalists to produce independent
content through training, mentoring, technical and financial support,
and close cooperation with civil society, thus improving the freedom
of expression, and strengthening the media pluralism in the country.
Summary of the Project
“Using Big Data and Multimedia to Boost Quality and Independent
Journalism in Albania” project, supported by EU, is being
implemented by BIRN Albania. The action aim to boost the skills and
knowledge of young, mid-career and journalists working on a local
level in the country, providing them with the mentoring, financial and
technical support, as well as investing significant effort to secure high
impact of their stories. In addition, the project foresees strong
multimedia component in order to make qualitative and trustworthy
investigative journalism available to citizens.
Through this project, BIRN Albania will support 20 local journalists,
both men and women, from the 12 regions of the country by involving
them in different activities of the project: a) formal training to raise
their capacities through data journalism and multimedia reporting
training; b) on-the-job training and mentoring for the production of
120 in-depth analytical stories, rich with data mined from the database
developed by BIRN and visualized through infographics in order to
make them accessible to a general audience; and c) by strengthening
their networking with local NGOs and activists.
BIRN Albania will provide funds for 12 investigative reporters
working in mainstream media and will offer them on-the-job training
and mentoring on investigative techniques and how to dig new
information through three main channels: documents obtained though
freedom of information requests, human sources from both
government and non-profit sector and electronic sources. The topics
for the 12 investigations will be selected through close consultations
with civil society in three specific fields: Judiciary, Organised Crime and Public administration and financial management.
The action will provide formal training for 20 journalism students and
young graduates from different journalism schools of Albania (Tirana,
Elbasan and Shkodra) on topics related to data visualization and
multimedia reporting. Also, after the completion of the training, the
project will support their production of 50 short video reports by
young journalism and infographics with on-the-job training and
mentoring from BIRN Albania.
Finally, the action will result with the production of up to 120 data
driven in-depth stories, at least 20 investigative stories, 12 in-depth
videos, 50 visualisation stories and 1 TV documentary, reaching close
to 1 million people in Albania who will be informed on government’s
wrongdoings as well as on key topics of interest related to the EU
integration process of Albania.
Activities
Activity Cluster 1: Building capacities of local journalists,
journalism students and mid-career journalists, and strengthening
high-quality reporting in Albania
Training for local journalists
Trainings for young journalists
On-the-job training and mentoring
Activity Cluster 2: Bridging the gap between media and CSO sector,
strengthening media pluralism and promoting independent media
production which serves public interest
Regional workshops for journalists and CSOs
National Round Tables
Updating online database
Activity Cluster 3: Exposing government’s wrongdoings and
reporting on topics of interest related to the EU integration process of
Albania
Data driven journalistic production
Investigative production
Video production
In-depth video stories production
Production of data visualization stories
TV documentary production
Promotion of the action
Expected Results
iOc1 – Increased quality of reporting in Albania on local and national
level on topics that serve the public interest.
– Op1.1 20 journalists capacitated to produce high-quality news,
features and analysis;
– Op1.2 20 journalism students and young journalists
capacitated for video production and data visualisation;
– Op1.3 Boosted skills of 60 journalists/students/mid-career
reporters through the on-the-job training and monitoring of
their production of quality media content.
iOc2 – Strengthened freedom of expression, and boosted cooperation
between journalists and CSO representatives in fields relevant for
Albania’s EU accession process, and improved publics’ trust in media.
– Op2.1 Boosted cooperation and strengthened linkages between
journalists and CSO representatives/activists;
– Op2.2 Identified the most underreported topics in the fields of
Organised Crime, Judiciary and Public Finances;
– Op2.3 Increased transparency of institutions by making at least
150 public documents available for broader use online.
iOc3 – Exposed government’s wrongdoings and public officials held
accountable for their misconduct.
– Op3.1 Improved quality of journalism on a local and national
level through the production of up to 120 in-depth stories Op3.2 Significant insight into the government’s wrongdoings
in spheres of Organized Crime, Judiciary and Public Finances
provided through the production of at least 20 investigative
stories;
– Op3.3 Albanian government held accountable through the
production of at least 12 in-depth videos, 50 visualisation
stories and 1 TV documentary;
– Op3.4 Close to 1 million people reached and informed on the
most pressing issues the country is facing.
