Serbeze Haxhiaj, on the challenges of investigative journalism

“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want published; everything else is public relations.”

Using a quote by George Orwell to illustrate the vocation of journalism, Serbeze Haxhiaj, a winner of the EU Award for Investigative Journalism in Kosovo, opened the EU Inspirational Talk at Europe House in Pristina last evening.

Currently working as a news editor at the Radio Television of Kosovo and as an investigative journalist for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Ms Haxhiaj spoke to an audience of students of journalism, senior journalists and civil society on the core ethics of being a journalist and the challenges of investigative journalism in Kosovo. Ms Haxhiaj has a track record of 20 years of reporting on pressing issues such as corruption, human rights, security issues, religious extremism, terrorism and war crimes.