During the political crisis in Belarus, the Belarusian independent media found themselves under a serious blow from the authorities. As the repression grew in the country, most of their websites were blocked, three editor-in-chief of the largest media outlets are in jail on criminal charges, and some media have been declared extremist. To continue working, the surviving editions were forced to leave the country, and new projects are now immediately created abroad for security reasons. DW tells how Belarusian media work abroad.
Zerkalo.io has no journalist in Belarus
On May 18, 2020, the most popular and visited portal tut.by was closed in Belarus, 15 employees of the company ended up behind bars. “The editorial office has ceased to exist in the form in which it was, therefore, a part of the team that could and wanted to relocate was formed into the zerkalo.io team,” says DW project manager Alexandra Pushkina.
Now zerkalo.io employs 30 people, but the editorial office does not have an office, the journalists moved wherever it is convenient for them – the majority to Kiev or Vilnius. “The work has changed a lot: due to the small staff, we have reduced the number of sections, we cannot do reports on the spot, the photo suffers, and we get most of the content from readers, this is the main source, but we check everything carefully,” says Pushkina. The work is also hampered by the “extremist” status, which prompts some heroes or experts to ask to remain anonymous, she said.
Alexandra Pushkin
“Of course, blocking a website in Belarus also affects, but this happened not only to us, which means that the Belarusian audience has already developed a user habit to always turn on VPN in order to read independent media. Now we have already reached a third of the former tut.by audience by numbers,” – explains Alexander Pushkina. The project is financed, according to her, from various sources: “There are quite decent donations from readers, we interact with funds that support the media, and soon advertising on the site will start, and we also have direct advertisers.”
Now zerkalo.io does not have a single journalist in Belarus, and this is the principled position of the editorial board, which does not want to take responsibility for new arrests, while 15 colleagues are in prison. “Yes, the Belarusian media has to be without journalists in Belarus. But we are very careful not to turn into an“ emigrant’s leaf ”- we continue to write about Belarus for Belarus and do not shift the focus,” sums up the manager of zerkalo.io Alexander Pushkina.
Nikita Melkozerov interviews “extra people”
The YouTube channel of journalist Nikita Melkozerov “life is raspberry”, in which he interviews famous Belarusians, was originally conceived as a sports project. “I had a desire to make a project about sports, but then the situation in the country began to develop, of course, we had to react. Now we are a media that shows how many cool people are in Belarus, what great prospects we have in terms of brains – we are a kind of catalog “, – Nikita Melkozerov shares with DW. More than 80 thousand people have already subscribed to his channel, and recently the 50th anniversary edition has been released.
The anniversary of the channel in June 2020, Nikita Melkozerov celebrated “on the run.” “When sports journalists Alexander Ivulin and Yaroslav Pisarenko were detained, I realized that the list of executions was definitely higher than them, and if they came to them, then I’m next in line. And then Yaroslav told me that they were interested in me. Therefore, for 4 days I I moved around the city with my phone switched off periodically, did a PCR test and left, “says Melkozerov.
Nikita Melkozerov (right)
A series of interviews that the journalist does abroad with political emigrants, he called “superfluous people” – among the heroes were Anton Motolko, Ilya Salei, Pavel Latushko, Yaroslav Romanchuk. “At the time of my departure, I understood that there are a large number of speakers abroad and it would be convenient to work from there. But for me the most impasse situation is the project of emigrants about emigrants for emigrants. Anyway, the main point is about Belarusians and for Belarusians,” says Nikita Melkozerov … According to him, the core of the channel’s audience remains in Belarus.
Since “life-raspberry” is an author’s project, Melkozerov is not worried about the fact that there are no representatives of the authorities or Belarusians of pro-government views among his guests. “I want to make a high-quality product and I believe that people should inspire, and I have no desire to broadcast to those who justify violence. I even have a cultural function, I help Belarusians get to know Belarusians – this is such a big dating process” , – says Melkozerov.
“Malanka media” – civic television on YouTube
Unlike previous projects, the so-called television on YouTube “Malanka Media” was initially created abroad right in the wake of the protests in Belarus in the summer of 2020. “Pavel Marynich, the founder of the Zubr platform, suggested that I make a new television. I came to Vilnius, we started with 3 people, we did everything from scratch. I said that I want to make news and I will make everyone watch them. And they shot “, – says the chief editor of the project Katerina Yerusalimskaya.
Catherine of Jerusalem
Over time, the project began to expand, new formats began to appear in it, such as interviews, live broadcasts, and the number of employees reached 12 people. Malanka Media is very proud of its growth – 100 thousand subscribers per year without any promotion costs. Malanka Media sees no problem in working abroad. “We strive to become civilian television. Our correspondents are ordinary citizens, and we must receive information and feedback from them,” says founder Pavel Marynich.
“Malanka Media” is now working for user donations and funds from European funds, says Marynich. “At the start, funds helped us, then the diaspora helped us a lot, they raised money for equipment. Now there is an agreement with funds that partially cover our needs, but we would like to receive stable funding for a year, otherwise we cannot look to tomorrow with confidence.”
The project is often accused of propaganda because of its harsh language against the Belarusian authorities and its clearly oppositional orientation. “We are distinguished by sharpness, we give news under a special sauce. Viewers themselves do not want us to give the floor to“ Lukashists. ”Classic journalism has sunk into oblivion, no media is objective now, we are crushing the regime. otherwise “, – Yerusalimskaya responds to the claims.
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