{"id":11462,"date":"2022-08-17T17:48:53","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T14:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/independent-media-lose-some-readers-state-propaganda-is-hard-sell\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"independent-media-lose-some-readers-state-propaganda-is-hard-sell","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11462\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent media lose some readers, state propaganda is hard sell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>Via\u010desla\u016d Korascie\u0144, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t * Reproduction prohibited\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b><span>The Belarusian regime has created the most favorable conditions for state media organizations and outlawed media outlets independent of the government.<\/span> <\/b>\n<\/p>\n<p><b> <\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Dozens journalists in jail, 400 fled<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Following 2020 post-election protests, the Belarusian government has outlawed nearly all private media in the country. At least 28 journalists are in prison, and more than 400 have fled the country for fear of persecution, said the Belarusian Association of Journalists.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Independent media outlets continue to operate abroad despite authorities\u2019 attempts to restrict access to their websites and limited access to sources of information in the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities have branded scores of independent media organizations extremist groups. The outlets do not have journalists in Belarus, cannot interview officials and rely on propaganda outlets for information from official sources.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The embattled media are struggling to reverse a decrease in subscriptions to their channels in the Telegram messenger application, the most popular tool for disseminating information in Belarus. Subscription to outlets labeled extremist, reposts and comments are a criminal offense carrying a prison sentence.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Nevertheless, independent media continue to dominate online. About 21 percent of Belarusians trust independent media and only 1.6 percent trust state-controlled media, found a June poll by the Belarusian Analytical Workroom. Nexta Live, an opposition outlet, is the most watched Belarusian YouTube channel, according to data released by the Baltic Internet Policy Initiative. Only three state-controlled organizations have made it to the top 10.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Officials are concerned about independent media dominance.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Information Minister U\u0142adzimir Piarco\u016d recently encouraged district newspapers to publish critical articles.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka announced the formation of special information forces a few months ago. He directed that every district newspaper maintain a Telegram channel.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Readers shun state propaganda&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t State and independent media outlets do not compete because they work for different audiences, said Jan Avsieju\u0161kin, of the iSANS think tank.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cThe Belarusian public is polarized so much that a permanent reader of Zerkalo [an independent outlet] is unlikely to browse BelTA, Sovetskaya Belorussiya or ONT [pro-government outlets],\u201d he told The Viewer.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cThere has not been a spike in state media audiences,\u201d said Pa\u016dluk Byko\u016dski, a Belarusian journalist. \u201cThere has been a slight increase in television viewers . . . On the one hand, people don\u2019t have alternative options. On the other, they want to know what officials are thinking.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<h2>Byko\u016dski: independent media traffic down eight percent<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The risk of imprisonment has forced some readers to unsubscribe from Telegram channels associated with media outlets labeled extremist.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Buko\u016dski noted that overall independent media traffic has declined by eight percent. The outflow is not \u201ccatastrophic,\u201d he said, adding that audiences grew dramatically during 2020 post-election protests.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Nearly half of Belarusians use VPN<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Many Belarusians have already learned how to bypass restrictions. A recent opinion poll found that about 40 percent of Belarusians use VPN services, Byko\u016dski said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cThis is a huge number because nobody needed VPN until recently,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Via\u010desla\u016d Korascie\u0144, BPN * Reproduction prohibited The Belarusian regime has created the most favorable conditions for state media organizations and outlawed media outlets independent of the government. Dozens journalists in jail, 400 fled Following 2020 post-election protests, the Belarusian government has outlawed nearly all private media in the country. At least 28 journalists are in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11462","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Independent media lose some readers, state propaganda is hard sell | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Via\u010desla\u016d Korascie\u0144, BPN * Reproduction prohibited The Belarusian regime has created the most favorable conditions for state media organizations and\" \/>\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\/longreads\/11462\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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