News on the topic: mass media
18.07.2018 Human rights defenders call to drop criminal charges against BelaPAN director
Statement on the criminal prosecution of Ales Lipai, director of the BelaPAN news agency, and pressure on journalists in Belarus
18.06.2018 Legislative amendments further restrict media in Belarus, says OSCE media freedom representative
VIENNA, 18 June 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed concern following the adoption of legislative amendments in Belarus which further restrict media activities in the country. The amendments affect the work of national mass media, internet resources, and foreign media outlets.
14.06.2018 Financial police raid apartment of BelaPAN director, charge him with tax evasion
The Minsk apartment of Ales Lipai, director of the BelaPAN news agency, has been searched by financial police this morning. According to human rights activist Valiantsin Stefanovich, the search was conducted by the Department of Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee as part of a criminal case opened against Lipai.
11.06.2018 CPJ Blasts Belarus's 'Veiled Attempts At Tightening Censorship'
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Belarusian lawmakers to reject proposed laws that could “further censor” the media in the country.
20.04.2018 EU Lawmakers Deplore Harassment Of Independent Belarusian Media
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a resolution deploring the harassment of independent media before and after the February 2018 local elections in Belarus.
18.01.2018 Situation with Freedom of Speech in Belarus Reported as Highly Critical in 2017
There were registered more conflicts between the Belarusian official authorities and journalists in 2017 than during the preceding three years taken together. The statistics were presented by the BAJ representatives during a press-conference in Minsk on January 16, 2018.
25.08.2017 Reporters Without Borders: Five Belsat TV reporters on trial
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the Belarusian regime’s increasing persecution of the country’s few remaining independent journalists, as evidenced by the trials of five of them today and tomorrow on charges of working for foreign media without press accreditation.
11.05.2017 BAJ Urges State Bodies to Provide Info on Patriots’ Case
The Belarusian Association of Journalists filed a petition to the Investigative Committee, the General prosecutor’s office and the KGB, demanding to hold a press conference for all mass media and present official information concerning the investigation into the criminal cases widely discussed lately, the so-called cases of “Bely Legion” and the “case of patriots”.
22.08.2016 Human Rights Watch urges Belarus to free Turkmen dissident
Belarusian authorities are holding a former journalist from Turkmenistan on an extradition request by the Turkmen government, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday. They should immediately release the former journalist, Chary Annamuradov, and under no circumstances extradite or otherwise return him to Turkmenistan, where he would face torture and ill-treatment in custody.
07.07.2016 No choice in media coverage of elections, BAJ leader says
On July 4, the chairperson of BAJ Andrei Bastunets took part in the conference on "Media Freedom as a Cornerstone for Democratic Elections", organized by PACE jointly with the Venice Commission in Berlin.
17.05.2016 Amendments to Internet Control Prepared Secretly from the Public
On April 21, in the annual speech addressed to the Belarusian people, Aliaksandr Lukashenko told that the Ministry of Information had been charged with a task to draft a new law to control the Internet.
18.04.2016 Journalist in Homieĺ convicted over story she didn’t shoot
On April 15, the Court of Homieĺ’s Centraĺny district heard the administrative charges brought against local journalists Kanstantsin Zhukouski and Larysa Shchyrakova. They were accused of violating Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code, illegal manufacture of media products.
18.04.2016 RSF: Harassment of two journalists is test for international community
Reporters Without Borders condemns the way judicial authorities in the southeastern city of Homyel are hounding freelance journalists Kastus Zhukouski and Larysa Shchyrakova and urges the European Union to condition its rapprochement with Belarus on specific progress in respect for media freedom.
09.02.2016 Human rights activist asks Prosecutor's Office to check publication on government-run website for extremism
Tatsiana Reviaka, member of the Board of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, has sent an appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office of Mahilioŭ asking the officials to check a publication on the website vecherniy-mogilev.by, which she says may contain elements of extremism.
28.01.2016 OSCE Representative condemns police violence against journalist in Belarus
VIENNA, 27 January 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned an attack against a journalist by police officers in Belarus, and called on the authorities to ensure journalists’ safety.
