The Ethical Journalism Award, presented by ARTICLE19, has been awarded to CINS for the investigative story “CINS Inside SNS’s Call Center – Hostess Agency, Vote Buying, and Millions in Cash.”
The investigative story, published in November last year, uncovered a series of potential illegalities in the pre-election campaign of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), such as vote buying and illegal call center operations. The call center topic brought greater visibility to CINS’s investigative work.
Following the story’s publication, CINS also uncovered that SNS did not report expenses related to its operations to the Anti-Corruption Agency, and that the Agency decided not to initiate proceedings against them due to an alleged lack of conclusive evidence.
The investigation into the call center was also included in ODIHR’s final report and served as an example of the issue of campaign financing by third parties, which remains unregulated.
ARTICLE19 works to promote the right to freedom of expression and access to information, believing in a world where all people everywhere can freely express themselves and actively participate in public life without fear of discrimination.
The award was presented as part of the regional #CheckItFirst campaign, which aims to highlight the role of truth, accuracy, independence, fairness, humanity, and responsibility in reporting.
Thank you for sharing CINS’s articles! Please make sure to credit the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia and include a link to the article you are sharing.
For more information, visit: https://www.cins.rs/en/terms-of-use/
What do you think