Q: What happened to your professional life after you won the Courage in Journalism Award in 1992?
GK: I left Sarajevo a year before the war was over. It was hard to leave Sarajevo. I had to do that out of private reasons. I moved to Canada and for the last seven years, I worked for Reuters Online in Toronto. That was an amazing experience. And [in 2007], I moved to Prague at Radio Free Europe and I’m working as Director of the Balkans Service. But I can say that at each step of my career, the International Women’s Media Foundation award and my relationship with the organization played a major role in my life.
Q: Can you tell us how that role played out?
GK: For example, at the most unexpected moments in my life, I could be faced with the fact that when I needed a boost in my career, let’s say some of my bosses would discover that I have this award and would get interested in how I got it and so this war part of my career would come up together with the award to help me advance in my career.
Q: What impact did winning the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award have on your life?
GK: First of all, I have to tell you that the news about getting the award travelled to Sarajevo almost one month because Sarajevo was at complete siege at the time. And I can say that after that award a lot of things changed. First of all, my newspaper won all other major international and European awards. And it became a kind of symbol of independent journalism in the Balkans. And I can say that when it comes to my own life, it has its ups and downs, but as you see I am still alive and well and working in Prague.
Q: What advice would you have for anyone who is covering a war?
GK: It’s really a hard question. First advice would be try to stay alive. And I would say try to get the story right. Try to get the news out, but I don’t think – and I shouldn’t be saying this – but I don’t think there is a single story which is worth risking and losing your life in a real way. So safety comes first, and getting the story right comes second.
Q: What are you most proud of about what you were able to accomplish with your newspaper, Oslobodjenje?
GK: So, probably the major accomplishment of my newspaper is the fact that in a war described widely as an ethnic war we had a multi-ethnic staff. And we had Serbs, Croats, Muslims, everybody working together and keeping this stuff together, and putting out the paper in this environment, I think, was a great achievement. And not to become biased and not to become a tool of any political faction in Bosnia was a great achievement.