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SARAJEVO, September 18 (FENA) - A journalist of the magazine ‘Žurnal’, Amarildo Gutić is the recipient of the first European Union Award for Best Investigative Story in 2018 for his piece titled “State against David”.
The second prize went to journalist Semir Mujkić for a series of texts on corruption in public procurement procedures while the third prize went to Renata Radić Dragić and Mubarek Asani for a series of stories about veteran activists against veterans' associations.
The 2018 Best Research Stories Awards were presented to the winners by Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to BiH Khaldoun Sinno.
This year's awards relate to investigative pieces published in the period January 1 - December 31, 2018, that address the topics in the areas of freedom of expression, rule of law, transparency, abuse of office, corruption and disrespect for basic human rights.
The jury consisted of media experts, editors, members of the academic community and renowned journalists. The prize money for Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2019 (for achievements in 2018) is 10,000 euros. The first prize amounted to 5,000, the second 3,000, and the third 2,000 euros.
Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to BiH Khaldoun Sinno said in a statement to the media that this is the third time they have presented the awards, which began in 2017. He noted that this is a project that covers the entire Western Balkans region.
“It is very clear that the state of freedom of the media in this country is not what we want it to be. This was very clearly stated in the opinion of the European Commission and further explained in the analytical report accompanying the opinion,” said Sinno.
According to him, it is still very clear that there is political pressure on journalists.
“We want this pressure to be removed, we want much greater freedom of the media, but this should be accompanied by greater accountability of journalists. In this regard, I invite everyone to read the analytical report, which explains very clearly all that I have presented here,” said Sinno.
He added that today's event is a contribution of the European Union to freedom of the media, noting that awards have been given to three journalists or organizations that have contributed to investigative journalism.
He pointed out that all the award-winning journalists dealt with topics that are very topical in public life.
“Our message is that there must be independent, investigative, free journalism that needs to be protected. It should be protected by institutions. This is a crucial issue for us. It will remain crucial throughout the process of Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the European Union. We are monitoring the progress on this issue on a daily basis, and we will do it especially as BiH gets closer to the EU,” Sinno said.
He said progress towards the EU can only be achieved with strong, independent and protected journalism.
The jury member and editor of the daily newspaper "Oslobođenje" Vildana Selimbegović said that the media must have the assistance of the international community in order to raise the professional standards.
Selimbegović said that it is very difficult to be a journalist in BiH, and it is additionally difficult to be a journalist who will engage in investigative work, inter alia, because editorial offices cannot afford to give journalists time to focus on a single story, and the investigative stories require more time.
First Prize winner Amarildo Gutić said that it is beyond doubt that the story of David Dragičević's murder has been in focus throughout the past year and has attracted the attention of the editorial staff of ‘Žurnal’ and that he has accepted the task of doing the story.
“I would be happier if there were no stories like the murder of the young man David Dragičević and the murder of Dženan Memić, but unfortunately there are individuals from police, prosecuting structures who, instead of doing their job to protect all citizens, they protect the killers who murdered David, and they either do it for fear or for the reason of corruption. Our task was to point out that his death was not a coincidence, that it was not suicide, but that something else is hidden behind it,” said Gutić.
Following the awards ceremony, a roundtable on the challenges of investigative journalism was also held.
The EU Award for Investigative Reporting in the Western Balkans and Turkey promotes the outstanding achievements of investigative journalists and aims to improve the visibility of quality investigative journalism in the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey.
The awards are presented annually in all six countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey.
(FENA) S. R.
