The 2016 contests for EU awards for investigative journalism in Western Balkans and Turkey are now closed in all seven countries.
Being an investigative journalist is not an easy task
The prize for best young investigative journalist in this year’s contest for EU award for investigative journalism was awarded to Merila Dizdarević, for her work on the story „The Bosnalijek Affair: Cure called profit“, which was broadcast as part of FTV's political magazine „Mreža“.
Dizdarević explains that teamwork and editor’s support are some of the most significant segments for investigative reporters. “Being an investigative journalist is not an easy task. It means continuous monitoring, working with the sources, working with the editor, in this case – work with editor Elma Kazagić who reviews and moderates this magazine. Every day we face a lot of problems. There are a lot of pressures, but if you have an editor who is strong and has dignity and if you bring the story and documents which are reliable and verifiable, then simply no one and nothing can stop us”, says Dizdarević and emphasizes that investigative journalism also asks for sacrifice.
“Someone who wants to work as investigative journalist needs to know how it brings a certain sacrifice when it comes to free time and overtime work. You don’t have free time and you don’t have fixed working hours”.
The 29-years old journalist also explains what are the things that make her afraid while working on her stories. “A certain fear does exist in a sense that you will publish an unverified piece of information which can lead to criminal charges and lawsuits against journalist, editor and television, and to payment of high trial costs, and we all know about today’s working conditions for media, especially for public broadcasters.”
First prize in this year's contest for EU award for investigative journalism, was awarded to Avdo Avdić and Davor Obrdalj from Žurnal magazine, for their investigative story „The ruler from the underground“. Obrdalj emphasizes that majority of media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina can’t afford to work on one story for a longer period of time.
“Investigative journalists work with most difficulties within the system that restricts them. For example, during my earlier work I didn’t have enough time. That’s one of the key factors, because in order to make a good investigative story, first of all you need time, money, and maybe most importantly – freedom”, says Obrdalj.
“Journalists don’t have freedom. They are sometimes forced to auto-censor themselves because even if your editor doesn’t say that you can’t do something, journalists realize it based on some general behavior in that newsroom and media outlet.”