Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), initially called Osservatorio Balcani, sprouted immediately after the end of the Yugoslav Wars in 2000 as a forum for knowledge-sharing and dialogue among civil society organisations involved in cooperation projects in the field.

It owes its birth name to its mission: being a permanent observatory of human rights and politics in the Balkans. Its main promoter was activist Michele Nardelli, who persuaded the autonomous province of Trento to invest over 500,000 Italian liras (approximately 250,000 euros) in the project.

For a year, Osservatorio Balcani was hosted by the already existing website of the media outlet Unimondo. Topics and themes were suggested by an external committee from academia.

In 2001, it became an independent website with its own newsroom and, in 2004, a registered publication. From that moment, the external committee stopped deciding the editorial agenda. The newsroom, unchanged since then, consists of journalists with one peculiarity: most of them were international volunteers during the Yugoslav wars.

In terms of audience, the publication has increasingly reached not only academics and civil society actors, but also the diaspora from the Balkan peninsula. The coverage gradually included more countries; thus, the name changed in 2015 to Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT).

The media outlet publishes articles in Italian, English and Serbo-Croatian. It relies on a network of around 50 local correspondents and partnerships with local media.

The business model has varied over the years. Its primary source of revenue is national, European, and international grants, whereas public support has decreased. In 2020, the publication launched a membership programme, offering monthly previews and exclusive analyses. All the information is freely accessible and ad-free.

Last updated: January 2023

Last updated date: April 2023