{"id":202506,"date":"2026-09-04T21:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T21:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:22:08","slug":"cichanouskajas-aide-defends-independent-media-after-colleague-suggests-cutting-their-funding","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/","title":{"rendered":"Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s aide defends independent media after colleague suggests cutting their funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>September 4, <em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Pavie\u0142 Barko\u016dski, the national revival representative in the United Transitional Cabinet,\u00a0has suggested reducing international funding for Belarus\u2019 media in exile, while Franak Via\u010dorka, chief adviser to democratic leader Sviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja, expressed opposition to the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a Facebook post on September 3, Barko\u016dski accused exiled media outlets of losing objectivity and making arbitrary judgements about \u201cwhat is important or unimportant for the audience.\u201d He warned that \u201cpumping money into the independent media sector\u201d sometimes causes people to join the profession without understanding \u201cwhat journalism is about and what its requirements and standards are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barko\u016dski wrote that \u201csometimes one really feels like asking the European Commission to cut the media allocation from the current \u20ac15 million a year.\u201d He suggested that such \u201cDarwinism\u201d would winnow out incompetent people. \u201cWhen some stories start being compared to Belarusian propaganda, this is already a diagnosis of a serious illness,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to reporters, Franak Via\u010dorka objected to a funding cut proposed by Barko\u016dski, stressing that the \u201cofficial stance of all the institutions of pro-democracy forces in support of independent media remains unshakable.\u201d He cited a resolution adopted at the opposition-organized New Belarus Conference in Warsaw last month that called for sustainable long-term funding for the independent media and stressed the importance of editorial independence. \u201cEverything else is opinions voiced by specific people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A debate about funding for the media sector started after former political prisoner and blogger Siarhiej Cichano\u016dski lashed out at <em>Nasha Niva<\/em> over its report on his recent birthday party. The publication wrote that Cichano\u016dski had celebrated his birthday \u201con a large scale,\u201d while the blogger described it as a modest affair. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 4, Pozirk. Pavie\u0142 Barko\u016dski, the national revival representative in the United Transitional Cabinet,\u00a0has suggested reducing international funding for Belarus\u2019 media in exile, while Franak Via\u010dorka, chief adviser to democratic leader Sviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja, expressed opposition to the proposal. In a Facebook post on September 3, Barko\u016dski accused exiled media outlets of losing objectivity and making [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":183730,"template":"","rubric":[16,15],"class_list":["post-202506","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s aide defends independent media after colleague suggests cutting their funding | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"September 4, Pozirk. Pavie\u0142 Barko\u016dski, the national revival representative in the United Transitional Cabinet,\u00a0has suggested reducing international\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s aide defends independent media after colleague suggests cutting their funding | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"September 4, Pozirk. Pavie\u0142 Barko\u016dski, the national revival representative in the United Transitional Cabinet,\u00a0has suggested reducing international\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T18:22:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/zakrytyj_rot_cookie_studio_freepik_1128x752.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/\"},\"headline\":\"Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s aide defends independent media after colleague suggests cutting their funding\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T18:22:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-04T18:22:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/zakrytyj_rot_cookie_studio_freepik_1128x752.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/\",\"name\":\"Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s aide defends independent media after colleague suggests cutting their funding | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202506\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/zakrytyj_rot_cookie_studio_freepik_1128x752.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T18:22:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-04T18:22:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"September 4, Pozirk. 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