Reporters without borders: Belarusan regime creates situations for the free journalism to go on its
29.09.2014 |Society| EuroBelarus Information Service,
International journalistic organization reacted on a wave of pressure on the Belarusan colleagues from the authorities.
“In a continuing drive to suppress independent news coverage, the authorities are stepping up the penalties imposed on journalists who work for foreign media, often using their inability to obtain the obligatory government press accreditation as a pretext”, - is said in the press-release spread by the “Reporters”.
The organization retold the case with the raid in Ales Burakov’s apartment in Mogilev on the grounds that he had sent reports to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle without the necessary accreditation and recalls that these events coincided with the OSCE representative on freedom of the media Dunja Mijatović’s visit to Belarus, when she called on the authorities to abolish obligatory accreditation for journalists in order to improve media freedom.
“As well as systematically stifling the few remaining critical media, the government has launched an offensive against foreign media and against journalists who are forced to work for foreign media without accreditation because they cannot get it,” said Reporters Without Borders assistant research director Virginie Dangles, adding that “The regime’s strategy is clear - to create the conditions under which independent journalism disappears of its own accord”.
The organization also notes that Belarusan authorities are also directly targeting media based abroad, such as Belsat TV. “Reporters” cite a lawsuit against Belsat TV, a station based in Poland that broadcasts to Belarus, that was heard by a court on 4 September, when Belsat TV was accused of using an existing company name. The court dismissed the case for lack of evidence. Belsat TV’s attempts to register its Minsk bureau with the appropriate authorities have been repeatedly rejected.
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