BAJ and the Press Club Belarus call on the Polish authorities to preserve Belsat TV channel

The largest Belaru­sian media orga­ni­za­tions, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and the Press Club Belarus have urged the Pol­ish author­i­ties to pre­serve the Belaru­sian tele­vi­sion chan­nel Bel­sat.

Dear Prime Min­is­ter of Poland Don­ald Tusk,

Dear Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs of Poland Radosław Siko­rs­ki,

On behalf of the two largest orga­ni­za­tions rep­re­sent­ing the Belaru­sian media sec­tor, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and the Press Club Belarus, we would like to express our grat­i­tude for Poland’s ongo­ing sup­port of the demo­c­ra­t­ic move­ment in Belarus and the preser­va­tion of the Belaru­sian iden­ti­ty. This is an elo­quent demon­stra­tion of Poland’s sol­i­dar­i­ty with the demo­c­ra­t­ic move­ment in Belarus and the Belaru­sian peo­ple.

For years, free­dom-lov­ing Belaru­sians have con­sid­ered Poland a staunch ally of the Belaru­sian peo­ple in inter­na­tion­al affairs. This enabled the cre­ation of an orga­ni­za­tion­al media struc­ture com­pris­ing sig­nif­i­cant con­tent for Belarus and Belaru­sians, pro­duced by jour­nal­ists based in the coun­try and abroad.

The Pol­ish government’s sup­port has enabled the estab­lish­ment of the Belaru­sian inde­pen­dent tele­vi­sion chan­nel, Bel­sat. This pub­lic tele­vi­sion sta­tion is a pio­neer­ing mod­el for the new Belaru­sian media land­scape and has assem­bled a high­ly skilled team of pro­fes­sion­als.

We are writ­ing to express our deep con­cern that the recent changes being imple­ment­ed at the TV chan­nel will make Bel­sat one of three lan­guage units broad­cast­ing on a sin­gle chan­nel. This could result in a sig­nif­i­cant loss of access for Belaru­sians inside the coun­try to the only tele­vi­sion chan­nel broad­cast­ing in their native lan­guage. Cur­rent­ly, they have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to tune in at any time to receive news that is not avail­able else­where. In con­trast, both Ukrain­ian and Russ­ian cit­i­zens have the option of access­ing a vari­ety of inde­pen­dent tele­vi­sion sources. Belaru­sians only have Bel­sat.

Con­se­quent­ly, Belaru­sians may find them­selves in a more sig­nif­i­cant predica­ment about Russ­ian pro­pa­gan­da, which could ulti­mate­ly result in fur­ther dis­tanc­ing from the Euro­pean Union. We are con­cerned that the 17-year effort of Bel­sat and the Pol­ish state’s efforts to decol­o­nize Belaru­sians may be undone in the cur­rent chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ment for Belarus and the world. In light of the ongo­ing con­flict between Rus­sia and Ukraine and the grow­ing influ­ence of Krem­lin-backed media, Bel­sat plays a cru­cial role in safe­guard­ing Poland’s inter­ests and those of the broad­er Euro­pean com­mu­ni­ty.

The rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the regime are lever­ag­ing this oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­in­cen­tivize Belaru­sians, widen the dis­par­i­ty between Belaru­sian soci­ety and the soci­eties of Poland and Europe, and erode the prospect of Belarus join­ing the demo­c­ra­t­ic world.

We are also deeply con­cerned about the fate of the employ­ees of the TV chan­nel, 17 of whom have already suf­fered sig­nif­i­cant con­se­quences, includ­ing impris­on­ment, and now remain in Belaru­sian pris­ons.

In addi­tion, there are indi­vid­u­als who, as a result of their pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ties, were com­pelled to leave Belarus due to the risk of crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and poten­tial long-term impris­on­ment.

We, the inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian media orga­ni­za­tions, are opti­mistic that Poland’s efforts to pro­vide a plat­form for Belaru­sians to express them­selves in the coun­try and abroad will not be in vain. The Bel­sat TV chan­nel should con­tin­ue its mis­sion of serv­ing the inter­ests of Belaru­sian soci­ety and pro­mot­ing demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ues in Europe.

Sin­cere­ly,

Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists

Press Club Belarus