Investigative reporters from all over Eastern Europe met in Budapest to pick up new techniques and scrutinize the ethical dimensions of ways of investigative reporting

During a two-day regional conference in November, more than 130 journalists from the Balkans and Eastern Europe met in Budapest to share their experiences and learn more about investigative reporting.

The conference, which is the largest of its kind in this part of the world, gave the participants an opportunity to meet fellow journalists and learn from their experiences covering tracking of terrorists, undercover work at an orphanage as well as exposing university lecturers issuing false diplomas.

Personal accounts of success stories

Selected Eastern European journalists presented their work and engaged in discussions on ethics, protecting the confidentiality of sources and practical ways of how to successfully carry out an investigation. Among others, Tudor Iascenco from Moldova presented his investigation concerning a corrupt mayor. The investigation lead to a legal suit filed against the journalist, which he won in all three legal instances in Moldova.

Another journalist, Yulia Ladnova presented her investigation in which she worked undercover in Belarusian orphanages to report about the living conditions for homeless children.

Both reports came into being with support from SCOOP, and stories like these encourage other journalists to pursue their stories, says Henrik Kaufholz, a senior reporter at Danish daily Politiken and SCOOP's manager and organizer of the Budapest conference:

"Many journalists came here believing, lack of resources or up-to-date technology made some forms of investigative reporting is impossible. They have left the conference knowing it is all possible."

Providing food for thought

At the conference, leading practitioners from Europe, Asia as well as the United States provided food for thought in sharing their experiences with investigative reporting.

Among others, Hu Shuli who is the managing editor of the Chinese business magazine Caijing presented the very difficult problems facing investigative journalists working in China’s restrictive media environment. She noted with some optimism, however, that 95 per cent of all topics were no longer taboos.

The conference which was hosted by Hungary’s Centre for Independent journalism, was organized by the Balkan Investigative Reporters Network (BIRN) and SCOOP, a network set up by IMS and the Danish Association of Investigative Reporters (FUJ) which offers financial and editorial support to Eastern European journalist undertaking investigative reporting. On a number of occasions, reporters have won awards for their investigations done with support from SCOOP.