Romanian Journalist Adrian Mogoş Wins CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism 2010

Mon, 12/07/2010

The Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) are pleased to announce the winner of the CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism 2010, Mr. Adrian Mogoş from Romania.

On 2 July 2010, the international jury met in Trieste at the CEI Headquarters (see photo below) and examined a total of 24 nominations from 11 CEI Member States. The personal risks taken while performing the duty, the quality of reporting as well as the impact on society of the messages conveyed were the main criteria taken into account.

It was unanimously decided that the Award should go to Adrian Mogoş, investigative journalist from Romania. With this selection, the Jury intended to promote the high-quality cross-border investigative journalism carried out by Adrian Mogoş, cooperating with colleagues in different countries while raising important issues to the public awareness. His work represents a good example for the young generation of journalists.Adrian Mogoşwill receive the Award of 5.000 EUR, offered by the CEI, on the occasion of the traditional “CEI Journalists Forum”, to be held in Warsaw, Poland, at the end of September 2010.

The jury was composed of Norbert Mappes Niediek, free-lance South East Europe correspondent based in Graz (Austria); Franca Roiatti, foreign affairs desk, Panorama weekly, Milan (Italy); Andrzej Godlewski,Commentator, Polska The Times, Warsaw (Poland); Marina Constantinoiu, editor-in-chief, daily Jurnalul National, Bucharest (Romania). Drago Hedl,editor and journalist of the Daily Jutarnji List, Zagreb (Croatia), and Besar Likmeta,BIRN Editor-Project Manager, Tirana (Albania) – the winners of the editions 2008 and 2009 of the Award – were also members of the Jury. The meeting was also attended by Oliver Vujovic (SEEMO Secretary General) acting as advisor together with Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter (CEI Secretary General) and Barbara Fabro (CEI Senior Executive Officer).   CEI Secretary General, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter highlighted the commitment of the CEI to media issues in its Member States, especially with a view to encourage the role of independent media and give particular credit to journalists often exercising their profession under difficult conditions. According to Oliver Vujovic from SEEMO, investigative journalists are important for democratic developments in the countries in the CEI / SEEMO region.   Adrian Mogoş was born in 1974 in Cluj - Napoca, Romania. He is currently working for the Romanian daily Jurnalul National. He is member of the executive committee of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism. Mogoş has published plenty of investigative reports on Romanian media, but has also worked on several regional investigative projects. Among the main achievements as investigative journalist the following deserve mentioning: “Forged Identity – highway to EU”, published in mid-October 2009 in the Jurnalul National. An English version was published by the Balkan Insight online publication. Afterwards, the story was largely republished throughout the CEI / SEEMO region in Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia/FYROM, Serbia and Italy. Another investigative story is “The Fields of Terror – the New Slave Trade in the Heart of Europe”, a joint production of Romanian, Moldavian and Ukrainian journalists under Adrian Mogoş’s coordination. The story, published in December 2009, is a cross-border investigation about forced labour networks still active in Western European countries. Adrian Mogoşproduced many other investigative pieces on different topics such as illegal deforestations in Romania, suspicious public tenders organized by the local authorities, abuse against Roma children etc.    In 2010, the Jury has also decided to award a special mention to Iryna Khalip from Belarus and Lydia Pavlova from Bulgaria for their valuable contribution to investigative journalism in their own countries. They will receive a CEI-SEEMO diploma during the “CEI Journalists Forum 2010”.

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