Balkan Investigative Reporting Network

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Regional investigative journalism network in the Balkans; heavily funded by Western governments and foundations; Assembly president Tim Judah is father of Ben Judah


Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
Type Network of non-governmental organisations
Logo
Founded 2005
Founder(s)
Dissolved
Registration ID
Status Active
Headquarters Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (regional hub)
Location Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia
Area served
Services Cross-border investigative reporting; training; grants to local media; transitional justice coverage
Registration
Key people Tim Judah (President of the BIRN Assembly); Jeta Xharra (Executive Director, BIRN Kosovo); former directors including Nerma Jelacic
Website birn.eu.com
Remarks Major funders include UK FCO/British Council, SIDA, Open Society Foundations, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, USAID, NED; subject of Grayzone reporting on British Council oversight


Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is a regional network of non-governmental organisations established in 2005 to promote independent investigative journalism, media freedom and democratic accountability across South-East Europe. It maintains a regional hub and national offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Its English-language outlet is Balkan Insight. The network has received substantial funding from Western governments and foundations and has been described in critical reporting as closely aligned with UK soft-power and foreign-policy objectives.[1][2]

Structure and leadership

BIRN operates as a network of independent charities. Tim Judah, a British journalist and special correspondent for The Economist, is President of the BIRN Assembly. Tim Judah is the father of Ben Judah, the British journalist and author who served as special adviser to David Lammy (Foreign Secretary 2024–2025; later Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary). Ben Judah spent part of his childhood in the Balkans and has written extensively on foreign policy; his appointment as David Lammy’s adviser was reported in February 2024.[3][4]

Nerma Jelacic, later Director of Management and External Relations at the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, was the first director and co-founder of BIRN in Bosnia and Herzegovina (from 2005) and editor of Balkan Insight and the Justice Report. Other long-standing figures include Jeta Xharra (BIRN Kosovo).[5]

Funding

BIRN’s supporters include international institutions and foundations. Documented donors and partners have included:

LobbyFacts data for BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina list major contributions including from the Foreign Commonwealth Office–British Council, SIDA and EU programmes. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has supported BIRN since 2006 as part of its work on civil society and democracy in the region.[1][6][7]

Activities and critical accounts

BIRN produces investigative reporting on corruption, organised crime, transitional justice, war crimes and institutional accountability. It runs grant programmes for local media, training and cross-border projects. It has won numerous awards and has been targeted by pro-government tabloids in Serbia and North Macedonia, which have accused it of being a foreign mercenary or Soros proxy.[4]

A August 2024 Grayzone investigation, based on leaked emails, described an internal crisis at BIRN and characterised the network as “directly overseen by a British government agency” (the British Council) under a Foreign Office project aimed at supporting media independence in the Western Balkans. The article stated that British involvement extended to training operatives and directing activities, and described BIRN’s donor roll as including intelligence cut-outs and Western embassies. BIRN has not publicly confirmed the characterisation of direct operational control.[2]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 BIRN, Donors and Partners BIRN, accessed 10 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Grayzone, Internal crisis shakes Balkan media network run by UK intel The Grayzone, 13 August 2024.
  3. ↑ Wikipedia and Chatham House profiles of Ben Judah; BIRN materials naming Tim Judah as Assembly president.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 BIRN, “Making a Difference: How BIRN Nurtured Independent Journalism in the Balkans,” 1 July 2025.
  5. ↑ Commission for International Justice and Accountability, Nerma Jelacic CIJA, accessed 10 October 2026.
  6. ↑ LobbyFacts.eu entry for Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina, accessed 10 October 2026.
  7. ↑ Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network RBF, 2006.
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