CIN’s editor-in-chief Aladin Abdagić won European Union’s second award for investigative reporting for a story about the property holdings of Dragan Čović, a member of BiH Presidency.
The story Čović’s Rich Father-in-law was published last August. Abdagić revealed how the leader of Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) and his wife Bernadica bought, or received as a gift, most of their property by 2003. After several prosecutions against Čović, his wife continued to buy on behalf of the family, while some properties she received as a gift.
Last year Abdagić and Mubarek Asani won European Union’s third award for investigating reporting for a video story about a police commissionaire involved in shady deals.
The first award went to Siniša Vukelić of the Capital.ba news site for a series about Republika Srpska’s banks. The award for a young reporter received Stefan Mačkić for a story about the concessions published at E-trafika news site.
The awards were presented today in Sarajevo by Jan SNAIDAUF, head of Political and Economic Section at the EU Delegation in BIH and Media Center’s director Boro Kontić.
This year’s call for applications featured 56 stories about government abuse, violations of basic rights, corruption and organized crime that have been published on BiH TV, radio, print and online media in 2014.
The EU Award for Investigative Reporting is presented in each of the seven candidate countries for the EU – Albania, BiH, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey for investigative stories published in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
European Commission’s Directorate General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations has launched Regional award program for Investigative Reporting in Western Balkans and Turkey with a goal to promote excellence in investigative reporting and increase visibility of quality investigative reporting in the region. Sarajevo-based Media Center hosts the EU Award In BiH.
