Bosnian journalist Drazen Huterer has been awarded the inaugural Jiri Dienstbier Journalism Fellowship, a partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and RFE/RL to promote free media in the Balkans.
Huterer will spend eight months with RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, working alongside the service's professionals in the Sarajevo bureau and at RFE/RL’s Prague headquarters to acquire skills and experience that will enable him to strengthen independent media at home.
Before beginning his fellowship, Huterer worked as an investigative journalist for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). As a member of IWPR’s “Tales of Transition” project in 2012, he visited numerous towns and villages in the region and produced stories about the human dimensions of the Yugoslav wars that were published widely in his country. He has worked for Radio Sarajevo (2011-2012), and is skilled in video production and photography.
In his piece titled “Sarajevans Mourn The Lost Legacy Of The 1984 Olympics,” he told the story of the great optimism and pride Sarajevans attached to their Olympic park, which is now in a state of decay after the war.
The fellowship is named in memory of former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister, journalist, and dissident Jiri Dienstbier, and aims to support aspiring journalists in the western Balkans as standard-bearers of the profession and leaders in their communities, on-line, on air, and in the world.