When BIRN was founded two decades ago, media freedom in the Balkans faced serious challenges, but there was hope; now, the prospects are even bleaker.

Film screened at BIRN’s Reporting House in Pristina features harrowing testimonies of survivors of the Dubrava prison massacre, in which nearly 120 inmates were shot dead in May 1999.

Across south-east Europe last month, BIRN’s digital rights monitors documented how AI is being used for protest surveillance, election manipulation, enabling digital sexual abuse and committing ...

As BIRN celebrates two decades of work, there never seems to be a dull moment in the region, as our selection of Premium stories this week shows.

After Hungary’s exit from the ICC, Europe’s political leaders should ensure that Russia does not take advantage of this move to destabilise the rules-based international order.

In the arid north-east, the towns monopolise the running water while the villagers dig ever-deeper wells, in a race to the bottom that portends Europe’s hotter, drier future.

Viennese researchers upset traditionally minded Albanians by pouring cold water on the theory that the Albanian language has its roots in Ancient Illyria.

Police detain 42 at rally marking the 100th day since the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition's chosen candidate for the next presidential elections.

Mayor says new museum will strike a different note – by accenting the Kosovo people’s efforts to achieve peace and freedom rather than focusing solely on wartime atrocities.

Participants cross the Elizabeth Bridge during the Budapest Pride march in Budapest, Hungary, 28 June 2025. Photo: Bela Varadi Democracy Digest: Hungarian PM May Find Pride Comes Before a Fall ...

Alen Muhic was one of many children born as a result of rape during the Bosnian war. Now he has written a memoir about “a silence that has gone on for too long”.

A declaration that Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian are all variations of the same language has annoyed conservatives, but received a warmer welcome from the people who speak it.