[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]“Belsat” Director believes that there is a need for one uncensored TV channel in Belarusian and another one for the entire Russian-speaking space.
Last time Director of the independent TV channel “Belsat” Agnieszka Romashevskaya-Guzy came to Belarus was a year ago. Then she managed to get the Belarusian visa after 10 years of unofficial “non grata” status. On May 31 in Minsk Press Club she responded to the most pressing questions of the audience and the channel viewers as well as of the Belarusian journalistic community.
– Will the funding of “Belsat” continue?
– Our great success is that we have already been working for 9 years and are constantly evolving. The so-called thaw in Belarus creates opportunities, but also challenges. The advantage is that we are persecuted less. Although we still do not have accreditation, we can get to the majority of places as journalists.
Problems are that sponsors and donors are turning away from Belarus, because they believe that the situation here is returning to normal.
I was assured that there would be no reduction of financing from the Polish side. Let’s see what happens at the end of the year. We lost some funding from some Western European countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Canada. Perhaps Polish TV will now agree to fill in that hole. Since our project has been there for 9 years, the reduction of funding now would be a waste of already invested funds.
Today, Poland is the largest media donor broadcast in Belarus. Further on, this issue will depend on the kind of policy conducted in the countries that border on it.
– What is the real audience of “Belsat”?
– This year we did not have money for a special study. According to the study conducted 2 years ago, about 4% of Belarusians admit that they watch the channel. It is 300 – 400 thousand people.
We have 2 groups of viewers: active middle-aged people in small towns who want to know what’s going on. They se watch us primarily through the satellite dish.
Among them there are a lot of businessmen, government workers, such as doctors, and, oddly enough, officials.
The second one is via the Internet. Very often they are young residents of large cities, but not only them. We would like to increase the group of urban intellectuals, and would not want to lose viewers in the province. Hleb Labadzenka said that he gets recognized in small towns because people had seen him on the screen.
– Will there be a broadcast in Russian?
– The decision about it will be difficult. Our team is very divided in this regard. In my opinion, a program like this would be needed, but that’s just my opinion.
Channel in Russian is constantly being discussed in Europe as a counter measure to “Russia Today”.
I personally need to have the money for it and the colleagues’ agreement. “Belsat” has only two principles that are not discussed. The first one is that Belarus is a part of Europe and European civilization. The second one: communism was a criminal system. These are the two main things through which we see the world. In my opinion, the issue of the Russian language is only the issue of work effectiveness.
– When will the channel get accreditation?
– Now we are waiting for the decision concerning the accreditation. I do not have high expectations, but I would like to be a bad prophet.
Denial of accreditation stems from the nature of the current Belarusian authorities. I do not see any benefit for them in us not having the accreditation.
Our materials are mainly made in Belarus. If someone wants us to stop working here, we will continue to work in Poland. Thus we strongly stand on two legs.
Sometimes the authorities decide to pick on particular journalist who begins to receive fines, one after another.
Unfortunately, I tell the people whom I hire that I cannot guarantee their security and safety. We can only promise that we will not leave the person alone.
At the end of the meeting, Deputy Chairman of the association “Perspective” Vyachaslau Pilipuk thanked the channel for prompt and high-quality coverage of the business issues, of which there have been a lot this year.
Chairman of the Ukrainian literature Society at the Belarusian Writers’ Union Natalka Babina asked for Ukrainian speaking people in the the news to not be translated. According to the channel policy, now statements in the official languages — Belarusian and Russian — are broadcast without translation.
Another question was about the prospects of “Belsat” appearing in the cable TV packages.
“If Belarus has a real thaw and a hot summer like we have today, perhaps we would get into the cable networks,” summed up Agnieszka Romashevskaya-Guzy.
belsat.eu
