Arbana Xharra facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arbana Xharra
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Xharra received the International Women of Courage Award in 2015.
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| Citizenship | Kosovo |
| Occupation | Editor in Chief |
| Employer | Zeri |
Arbana Xharra is a brave journalist from Kosovo. She is known for her special kind of reporting called investigative journalism. This means she looks deeply into important issues to find the truth. Arbana has won many awards for her work, including the International Women of Courage Award in 2015 from the US government.
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Arbana Xharra's Journalism Career
Arbana Xharra started her career as a journalist in 2001. She worked for Koha Ditore, which was the first independent newspaper in Kosovo, during 2006 and 2007. She also wrote for Balkan Insight. Later, she became the editor-in-chief of Zëri, another important newspaper.
What is Investigative Reporting?
Arbana Xharra believes that for a country to be a strong democracy, journalists must be able to investigate public concerns. Investigative reporting means looking closely at how things are run, especially by the government or big businesses. It's about finding out facts that might not be obvious.
Key Investigations by Arbana Xharra
Arbana has written about many different topics.
- In 2006, she investigated how government money was being spent.
- In 2007, she looked into why prices were going up and why there were food shortages.
- In 2010, she questioned how the state-owned company Telecom of Kosovo was using its resources.
- She also explored how businesses and politics were connected.
Arbana faced challenges because of her reporting. In 2012, she wrote about government issues that seemed to link a local business with politicians. She was taken to court, but the court decided she had followed the rules for journalists.
Reporting on Religious Extremism
For about 18 months, starting in 2012, Arbana Xharra investigated the rise of certain religious groups in Kosovo. She reported on how some extreme religious ideas were affecting society. She found connections between some groups in Kosovo and other organizations. Her reports helped the government understand and deal with these issues. However, because of her brave reporting, she faced threats and attacks on her reputation. She reported these to the police.
Arbana Xharra's Political Involvement
On May 9, 2017, Arbana Xharra left her job at Zëri. She then joined the PDK, which was the largest political party in Kosovo at the time. A few days later, on May 13, 2017, she was attacked in Pristina. Leaders, journalists, and people across Kosovo spoke out against this attack. Arbana Xharra later left the PDK in May 2018. As of 2025, she is working with a professor from NYU, researching topics like Turkey and radicalization in the Balkan region.
Awards and Special Recognition
Arbana Xharra has received many awards for her important work.
- She won the UNDP Prize three times (in 2006, 2007, and 2008) for her articles about corruption in Kosovo.
- In 2012, she received a Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. This allowed her to study how views on Islam were changing in Kosovo.
- In 2013, she won the Rexhai Surroi Award for an article she wrote about extremism. She also received the Stirring Up Debate Award for encouraging public discussion on religious extremism.
- In 2015, she was honored with the US Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award for the European region.
- In 2022, Arbana Xharra received an award for heroism from the American magazine "My New York" [1].
