Krenar Gashi

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Krenar Gashi is an award-winning researcher, investigative journalist, policy analyst and publicist from Kosovo, currently working at the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED).^[1]

A long-term investigative reporter, Gashi worked for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), where he served as editor for BIRN’s online publication Balkan Insight and interviewer for BIRN's televised show Jeta ne Kosove (Life in Kosovo) He is the founder of Kosovo's only English-language newspaper Prishtina Insight.^[2]

He has been working for various media outlets since 2000, including TV 21, Kohavision and most recently Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), setting up the public television station's website.^[3]

Gashi studied sociology at the University of Pristina and now is an MA candidate in Media and Communications at KIJAC, an international institute based in Kosovo.^[4] He has completed investigative and web journalism training at several institutions, including the International Journalism Summer School in London and the Online Journalism course at the Berlin-based Centre for investigative journalism.

Career

Krenar Gashi's investigative work has stretched from investigating fake personal documents in Kosovo, weapons smuggling, to investigations on war crimes and groups of ethnic Albanian fighters operating in Kosovo.

In 2006 Gashi led a BIRN an undercover investigation into illegal activities of passport smugglers in Kosovo and the network of passport scams which describe the current identification documents situation in Kosovo. In the investigation Gashi examined the market that the racketeers have set up, posing as mediators between ordinary people and complex government institutions in the region.

The investigation on Kosovan passports was republished by Korieri Newspaper in Albania, Focus Agency in Bulgaria, Epoka e Re, Gazeta Express, Koha Ditore and Kosova Sot in Kosovo, PCNEN in Montenegro, Hotnews, Euractiv and România Liberă in Romania, B92, Beta, Tanjug, The Belgrade Times and Danas in Serbia.^[5]

In 2007 BIRN published Gashi's investigation that revealed the booming illegal weapons’ market in Kosovo. The major findings of the report were that there is a growing market of illegal trade of weapons in Kosovo and that this market is being stimulated by lax laws of the international administration.

The report also reveals that there are many gas-guns entering Kosovo where they are modified and turned to real lethal guns. Article contains information gathered from official sources, administration, police and government, combined with the findings from the field.

Following this widely-republished investigative report,^[6] the UN administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, initiated changes in legislation about weapon possession and also altered the licensing procedures.^[7]

His latest investigative work, include reports that look into several separate groups of ethnic Albanian fighters operating in Kosovo and corrupted officials within the Government of Kosovo. Apart from these reports, Gashi has covered intensively all ongoing events in Kosovo through numerous analytical articles.

In the days leading up to the 17 February 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, Gashi served as Kosovo stringer for many media, including The New York Times, BBC and ORF. He was Kosovo correspondent for London's Financial Times, where he still writes occasionally.^[8] His investigative reports for BIRN's Balkan Insight have been republished elsewhere in the media and have made the front pages of newspapers in the region.

In May 2009, Gashi joined KIPRED to serve as Research Director of Kosovo's leading think tank.^[9]

Awards

Best Written Story in 2007 ^[10] - Kosovo's Association of Professional Journalists.^[11]

BIRN's internal award for outstanding quality of reporting, innovative approach and investigative journalism.^[12]

Publications

Circulation and Politicisation of Daily Newspapers in Kosovo, author, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Pristina, 2009
History Overshadowed by Trivia – media coverage of Radovan Karadzic arrest, co-author, BIRN, Sarajevo, ISBN 978-9958-9005-1-8
Power Struggle – meeting global energy challenges in the Balkans, co-editor, BIRN, Sarajevo, ISBN 978-9958-9003-0-3
Moving On – overcoming Balkan barriers to a European future, co-editor, BIRN, Sarajevo, CAT 070.42:377](4-12)(082)

Investigative reports

Kosovo Stunned by Alleged German role in Blast^[13]
Smugglers Find Heaven in Kosovo’s North, BalkanInsight.com^[14]
Political Clients Take Over Civil Service, BalkanInsight.com^[15]
Corruption Grips Kosovo’s Ministry of Justice, BalkanInsight.com^[16]
Kosovo’s Illegal Armed Groups in Shadows, BalkanInsight.com ^[17]
Kosovo: A Gunrunners’ Paradise, BalkanInsight.com ^[18]
Kaludjerski Laz Massacre Still Haunts Montenegro, BalkanInsight.com^[19]
Romanian Police Blamed for Kosovo Carnage, BalkanInsight.com^[20]
Ex-Policemen Run Kosovo Passport Scam, BalkanInsight.com^[21]

Documentary films

Obstacles to the other side, BIRN, Kosovo (producer and director)
Kosovo – Free at last, Current TV, USA (researcher)

References

External links

Persondata
Name	Gashi, Krenar
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