BelaPAN reporters banned from event with prime minister of Latvia

Alexan­dra Isaye­va, press sec­re­tary of the Coun­cil of Min­is­ters of Belarus said «only a lim­it­ed num­ber of jour­nal­ists» were invit­ed to the press scrum, and Bela­PAN was not includ­ed in it.

This is not the first case of dis­crim­i­na­tion of inde­pen­dent news agency reporters. In Decem­ber, they were not allowed to observe the ses­sion of the Coun­cil of the Repub­lic. The sit­u­a­tion was resolved in favor of Bela­PAN only after the case was giv­en a lot of pub­lic­i­ty.

Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists believes, selec­tive approach to access of media to events vio­lates the prin­ci­ple of equal­i­ty of the media guar­an­teed by the Law On Mass Media.

BAJ informed the Gov­ern­ment of Latvia about the sit­u­a­tion.