BIRN Kosovo held a three-day training course on investigative journalism and fact-checking with regional and international experts in Skopje, North Macedonia from October 13 to 15. A total of 18 journalists from around the region, 11 of whom were women, attended the course. Over three days, the participants became familiar with fact-checking and verification tools and studied in-depth investigations from the region. The first day’s training was conducted by Stephane M. Grueso, deputy coordinator of Spanish fact-checking media outlet Maldita.es, who talked about the current global problem with disinformation.

The second day continued with Grueso from Maldita, who talked about verification tools and techniques to debunk disinformation, giving practical examples.  The next session was conducted by Meri Jordanovska, a journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of Metamorphosis in North Macedonia.

The last day of the training course was conducted by Kreshnik Gashi, the managing editor of BIRN Kosovo’s KALLXO.com. Gashi spoke about the misinformation and propaganda spread by Russia, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Balkans, citing findings from investigations in Kosovo. He also talked about the use of whistleblowers while reporting on organised crime in the Balkans, how to protect whistleblowers, and how organised crime functions in the Balkans.This training course was held as part of the EU-funded project ‘Strengthening Quality News and Independent Journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey II’.