British Council students meet journalists writing about Belarus

On July 9^th, Belarus in Focus Information Office (aka SBIO) hosted a group of 20 Belarusian participants from the British Council’s Roots and Treetops programme – a two-year project in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Minsk and Alliance Française de Moldavie which seeks to increase cross-cultural competences by teaching EU languages and raising awareness about culture and politics in the EU.

A panel session was held with three Warsaw-based journalists who have covered Belarus – Łukasz Jasina (Kultura Liberalna), Michał Potocki (Dziennik Gazeta Prawna), and Sandra Uzule-Fons (Polskie Radio). Participants asked about how journalists from outside Belarus are able to identify sources inside the country, and if objective reporting is possible, as well as Western media perceptions of Belarus during the World Ice-Hockey Championships.

In addition, participants learnt about SBIO’s main media projects: the annual Belarus in Focus journalism competition, Press Club Belarus, and the development of a ‘virtual’ journalist community – based around the Belarus in Focus: Journalists’ Network on Facebook, and the online journalist guide.