Alfred Lela is the founder and editor-in-chief of Politiko.al. He had his TV talk show “Politiko” which aired for two seasons on Ora News and Top News. He was the director of Media MAPO which included a daily newspaper and a monthly magazine. He holds a BA in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences.

He is the author of three books and two national awards in Journalism.

Alfred Peza was born on February 26th, 1967. Among various positions held throughout the last three decades, Mr. Peza has worked as journalist, starting as a field reporter, deputy editor in chief, editor in chief, media analyst, director general of several media outlets also moderating Interview Hour and Debate Hour and directing Interviews & Debates broadcasts.
During the years 2006-2007 he lectured and taught in the Journalism Department of the History and Philology Faculty of Tirana University, while during 2013-2017 he served as a Parliamentary Member and Deputy Chair of Media and Education Committee of the Albanian Assembly.
Mr. Peza’s professional contributions has been recognized with various prizes and titles throughout his distinguished media career. He has published countless articles and also the novels: Enveriada, Sarah and the June 23rd Diary book.
In June 13th, 2023 Alfred Peza was voted and elected unanimously by the nine members of the Directing Council as the new Director General of RTSH (Albanian Radio Television).

Director, Media Programme for South East Europe Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Bulgaria
Christoph Plate is Director of the Media Programme for South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the 1990s he worked as contributing Africa Correspondent for the German Newsmagazine “Der Spiegel”, based in Nairobi, Kenya, reporting the war in Somalia and the genocide in Rwanda. Thereafter he covered the Middle East for ten years as editor and reporter for the Sunday edition of “Neue Zuercher Zeitung” in Switzerland. Before joining the Foundation, he was the Deputy Editor-in-chief of “Schwaebische Zeitung”, a big regional newspaper in Southwestern Germany. For the past six years he was head of the Media Programme Sub-Sahara Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Daria Grudić is a Distribution Manager in the Distribution Europe department at Deutsche Welle. Her main responsibilities include the distribution of DW content in the Benelux countries, along with the distribution of the German News Service project in Europe, with a special emphasis on the Balkan countries. Daria’s academic journey led her to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in Zagreb, Croatia. She worked for 8 years as a journalist and editor across various media platforms in Croatia, spanning from online and radio to magazines. In 2015 she moved to the Netherlands to pursue a Master’s degree in Media Innovation. In 2021, Daria joined the Distribution Europe team at Deutsche Welle and moved to Germany

Fabio Turone is a science journalist based in Milan, where he is director of the Agency Zoe of science journalism and of the non-profit Center for Ethics in Science and Journalism (CESJ). He is currently work-package leader in the Frontiers project, part of the Science Journalism Initiative funded by the European Research Council, and member of the Association of ERC grantees.
Additionally, he is correspondent for Italy of *Research Professional News/*Research Europe, covering Research Policy, Higher Education and Research and Innovation. He contributed stories, analyses and editorials to Nature, Nature Middle East, Nature Italy, Medscape and Univadis, among others.
As president of the professional association Science Writers in Italy (SWIM) and member of the board of the European Federation for Science Journalism he contributed to organize the 11th World Conference of Science Journalists WCSJ2019 Lausanne (Switzerland) and chaired the European Conference of Science Journalism ECSJ2020 Trieste (Italy).
In 2016-2017 he was Research Fellow of the Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge/Boston (USA). With CESJ, he has organized and coordinated many workshops for journalists and science journalists in Italy and abroad, including the Balkans, with funding from UNESCO and the European Commission

Jure Tepina is a Slovenian journalist and editor-in-chief of the website 24ur.com. That is his main responsibility for the past six years. He has been working as a journalist for 27 years and has begun his journalistic career as a sports journalist at RTV Slovenia, working as a presenter and sports commentator. For the past 14 years, he has
been part of the newsroom of the commercial POPTV. In addition to leading the highest rated website in Slovenia, he is also in charge of covering breaking news and events. He has reported on terrorist attacks throughout Europe, he did multiple reporting tours to Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Chechnya, and has just returned from Ukraine for the second time.

Hyrije Mehmeti is a teaching assistant at the Department of Journalism, University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”. She also serves as a PR & Communications Specialist for the Citizen Engagement Activity, a five-year partnership between USAID Kosovo and Kosovar Civil Society Foundation.

Ms. Mehmeti has been part of the media sector for 10 years now, of which for 8 years she worked at the Kosovo Law Institute, where she served in various positions, starting as a journalist and ending there as a responsible editor and manager of the “Media” program.

In 2018, she participated in an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program, which made her grow even more professionally.

Ms. Mehmeti is also a KAS Kosovo Alumni and since 2019, she regularly participates in several events of KAS Media Programme South East Europe.

Luca De Biase Journalist at Il Sole 24 Ore, La Svolta. Author and voice at Rai Radio 3. Adjunct Professor at the Universities of Pisa, Modena Reggio Emilia, Luiss. Recent books: “Il codice del futuro” (Sole 24 Ore 2023); “Eppur s’innova” (Luiss 2022), “Il lavoro del futuro” (Codice 2018). Media ecology director at Reimagine Europa. James Carey Award for Outstanding Media Ecology Journalism, 2016.

Seasoned media expert with a strong background in investigative journalism and media communication. Bringing over 30 years of diversified media experience.

Key Qualifications

– Extensive 30+ years of media experience encompassing print, broadcast, and social media platforms.
– Regular appearances on TV talk shows and influential presence on various social media platforms.
– Accomplished trainer for journalists at the Albanian Media Institute, also serving as a respected university lecturer teaching “Investigative Journalism.”
– Founder, trainer and editor at the Journalism Investigative Lab at the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism (ACQJ) since 2016.
– Hosted the acclaimed political talk show “Perballe” on Albanian Public Television from 2016 to 2021.
– Served as the editor of the TV program “31 Minutes,” a collaborative effort by ACQJ and RTSH, from 2019 to 2021.

Professional Experience:

1. Founder, Trainer, and Editor
– Journalism Investigative Lab, Albanian Center for Quality Journalism (ACQJ) 2016 – Present
– Established, trained, and managed investigative journalism team, fostering excellence in media research and reporting.

2. Host

– “Perballe” Political Talk Show, Albanian Public Television RTSH from 2016 to 2021
– Conducted in-depth discussions on political matters, promoting informed public discourse.

3. Editor

– “31 Minutes” TV Program (Co-production of ACQJ and RTSH) – 2019 – 2021. ACQJ – A2CNN 2022-2023)
– Investigative Journalism Lab 2016- present
– Managed content creation and editing for a collaborative investigative TV program.

Skills:

– Investigative Journalism
– Media Communication
– Communication Strategy Development
– Public Speaking
– Social Media Management
– Team Leadership and Training

Milorad Ivanovic, Serbia, is the editor-in-chief of BIRN Serbia, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Newsweek Serbia magazine, deputy editor-in-chief and executive editor of the daily newspaper Blic and executive editor of Novi Magazin weekly. His articles have been published in newspapers such as El Mundo in Spain, The Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times in England, The Washington Times and Der Standard in Austria. Ivanović has collaborated with journalists worldwide on transnational investigations, including SCOOP, SEEMO and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. In collaboration with the BBC World Trust Fund, he produced the documentary “Hidden Wounds” on post-traumatic stress disorder. He was an Internationale Journalisten-Programme’s (IJP) fellow at Süddeutsche Zeitung. Milorad is a member of ICIJ and one of the co-founders of EIC (European Investigative Collaboration).

Assist. Prof. Mariya Yurukova, PhD from the European Studies Department at Sofia University, is a media and policy analysis researcher. She holds a PhD in Media Policy and Law of the European Union. She is an expert in policies, legislative initiatives and soft law measures against harmful content online. The topic of her PhD dissertation is Disinformation online: counter-strategies in EU. She teaches courses in European Media Policy, Media analysis, Media research and projects, News production and Policies in EU at the undergraduate and master’s degree level students at Sofia University.
She is activist for media literacy and a trainer in different NGO projects in the field of countering disinformation and a supporter of the idea that EU efforts to create an adequate and disinformation-proof media ecosystem in the digital age are fundamental to Europe`s prosperity.

Nina Kodelja started her mandate at Central European Initiative (CEI) as Deputy Secretary General on 1 January 2019, where she focuses particularly on institutional affairs and CEI’s relations with international and regional organizations.
She is a diplomat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and has broad experience in various foreign policy areas – both in multilateral affairs as well as in regional policies and cooperation. She has dealt with various aspects of EU affairs, among which the Slovene accession to the EU. She has cabinet experience as counsellor of the minister of foreign affairs and was posted to Slovene representations in Rome and Madrid. She also served at the European External Action Service (EEAS), dealing with foreign policy issues within the EEAS chair/presidency of the Political and Security Committee of the EU.
Before her assignment as CEI Deputy Secretary General, she was heading the Department for General and Institutional EU Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, following key EU institutional issues such as preparation of European Councils, Brexit, negotiations of the next EU’s multiannual financial framework etc. Before this, she was Head of the Department for Emerging Challenges and Threats, in charge of global issues and threats such as climate change, terrorism and radicalisation etc.
She studied International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Trieste.

Robert Šveb is general director of the Croatian national public broadcaster – Croatian Radiotelevision HRT. Robert’s background lies in the intersection of digital engineering and business management. He is C-suite creative industries executive and serial technopreneur with 25+ years of international experience in creating, delivering and managing the innovations, business transformations and deployment of new technologies. Robert started out as a software engineer and gradually moved into the world of international entrepreneurship. He is known for his management, engineering and business development knowledge while also having the uncanny ability to motivate and lead project teams and champion large-scale development and change management projects. He has managed and consulted in large corporations and is founder of multiple technology start-ups. Robert has held Director positions at Al Jazeera Media Network and HRT. He was also a Senior Partner in Marquis MP and the Founder and CTO of On-Air Systems, which was the first company to introduce IT-based automation systems for video and film applications. In 2021, he was appointed Director General of HRT.

Dr. Sašo Ordanoski’s professional journalistic carrier spans over 40 years, with considerable experience in journalism, PR, and public communications both in national and international arena. He is a regular contributor to a number of local and international printed/electronic/digital media, as well as author of three books and a dozen of studies covering the field of his professional and research interest. He was managing director and editor-in-chief of the national public broadcaster Macedonian TV, managing director of the national commercial TV Alsat-M, founder and editor-in-chief of the Forum Magazine and Forum’s Center for Strategic Research and Documentation in Skopje. He plays a prominent role in SEE’s civil society sector. He teaches university courses of sociology, journalism, media and theory and practice of communication. He works as a consultant in the areas of media and communication for renowned international consulting companies.

Until 2022 he was Editor-in-Chief of the daily “Morning Briefing” program at slobodna.tv and was Media Director at the biggest publishing company Sloboden pecat in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Azra Husarić Omerović is a journalist of the Balkan Investigative Regional Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) and producer of the show Detektor Magazin. She graduated in journalism from
the University of Tuzla. Worked on local radio and radio of the state public service. She was engaged in activism in the field of human rights advocacy.

She is the co-author of a documentary film about journalism that premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2018.

She received UNICEF’s award for contribution to the promotion and protection of children’s rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the “Internet Work” category for her story on the challenges facing children with developmental difficulties and their parents in online classes during the current pandemic.

He currently works on the topics of war crimes, digital security, disinformation, as well as human rights

Project manager, editor-in-chief and journalist. In journalism for more than 15 years, and in public organizations – since 2000;

Since 2017, I have been managing the Bureau of Journalistic Investigations “Detectives”.

Began recording war crimes / crimes against humanity in 2018 related to the Second World War.

Three documentary stories were published in the book “Being Human”. Won an international literary journalism competition with one of these stories. This project was implemented and financed by the German Foundation “Memory, Responsibility and Future”. (EVZ – www.stiftung-evz.de/)

In 2022 – I began to participate in an international project to document war crimes – TribunalforPutin (T4P – https://t4pua.org/de/).

As part of this project, together with human rights organizations from several European countries I began to collect evidence of crimes against humanity and human rights violations by the Russian military.

I worked together with the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, the network of “Memorial” organizations (inparticular, “Memoria lDeutschland” – www.igfm.de/), “Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte” ((IGFM – DeutscheSektion – https://www.igfm.de/), Czech organizations ” Peoplein Need”, “Gulag. CZ”, “PragueCivilSocietyCentre”.

I collected more than 80 facts of war crimes in Ukraine. Inparticular murders, shelling and bombing of civilian objects.

I am working on a joint project with the European School of Oncology. In this project, we focused on the narrow specialization of documenting war crimes against vulnerable population like children with disabilities and cancer patients.

We also record war crimes against doctors and hospital infrastructure:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNnwrGtaUWMk95qKy24KNo6VO4jnzBljr.

Also, in May 2023, I prepared two series of the “People of War” project.

In 2022, I had a series of trainings for 100 students of higher educational institutions in Western Ukraine.

I am finishing a book – “Glaucoma girl. The horrors of the Russian war”.

I also work in an international journalistic team – with Moldovan specialists. We are carrying out a joint project – funded by Journalism fund Europe (Belgium – https://www.journalismfund.eu/journalists/taras-zozulinskyy). We are preparing a series of journalistic investigations – “Russian war crimes against ecology. The impact on the environment of neighboring European countries.”

Education:

Entered the Faculty of journalism – Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Master of Journalism;

Cooperation with: :

“Center for Investigative Journalism in Moldova”; “Agency for Journalistic Investigations” Informant”; TV Channels “1+1”, “2+2”,“ZIK”;Newspapers”Ekspres”, “Mirror of the Week”,”Ukrainian Week”.

International cooperation – grant projects (over 20):

European School of Oncology;People in Need;Professional Development Grants for Environmental Journalism; International Renaissance Foundation;Center for Eastern European Studies: Lithuanian Union of Journalists;Money Trail Grants;OPEN Media Hub (Thomson Foundation);Journalismfund Europe; USAID; Democratic Society East; Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU); Internews; DANIDA; Freedom House;Polish-Canadian programs for Democracy; Association of Polish Journalists; Project Association Investigative Journalists Denmark (SCOOP).

Professional awards (over 30):

Fetisov Journalism Awards (nominee); Media etc. 3.0 (special award); “The best publication in the framework of the project Counteraction to Disinformation in the Information Space of Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia” (third place); “Catch Fake” (first place); Hostwriter Pitch Prize (winner); One World Media Awards (nominee); European Press Prize (nominee); Ukrainian-Polish competition “Polish Journalists Association” (third place); “Police under control” (first place); “Honor of the profession (first place); “Reporters for Reporters – Eastern Partnership Journalistic Award” (nominee).

Speaker at trainings and seminars:
A series of trainings for Ukrainian students – journalistic investigations (2022); IJC19 (11th All-Ukrainian Conference of Investigative Journalists); MediaBarCamp (Lithuania);”Judicial reform in Ukraine: instruments of social control”;“S.T.O.P. Corruption: Supporting Transparency, Organizing Prevention”.

Aleksandra Bogdani is an investigative journalist and an editor for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania. She has more than 20 years of experience as reporter and editor for several newsrooms in Albania.
During her career, Bogdani has covered court and crime issues, as well as corruption, organize crime, immigration and CVEs issues. She has been also engaged as a trainer and mentor for local journalists. Bogdani has been awarded with CEI-SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism in 2015 and “EU Investigative Journalism Award 2014”.

Chair of the Supervisory board of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), journalist since 2001, worked for print and online media in the region of Pilsen (CZ), from 2021 for investigative website HlidaciPes.org. Co-founder and member of board of the Association of Regional Journalists. Co-founder and chair of the Jindřich Opper´s Journalists Club, which runs the regional startup magazine Apel-plzen.cz and organized a program for relocation of journalists in need from Eastern Europe. Vicechair of the Association of Online Publishers (AOV), which unites private independent media in Czech republic. On behalf of AOV she´s a board member of News Media Europe (NME), which represents more than 2,500 media outlets in 14 European countries.