Belarusian journalists in Paris: Meetings, exchange, and a solidarity action

At the end of Octo­ber, a del­e­ga­tion of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists vis­it­ed Paris. As part of the work­ing trip, they met with edi­to­r­i­al teams of lead­ing French media out­lets and took part in sol­i­dar­i­ty actions in sup­port of impris­oned jour­nal­ists cur­rent­ly behind bars in Belarus.

Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists with a col­league from Agence France-Presse. Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

Networking — a chance for Belarusian media to be visible to the world

An impor­tant part of the vis­it was get­ting acquaint­ed with the expe­ri­ence of lead­ing French media — from glob­al news agen­cies to nation­al radio sta­tions and news­pa­pers that set jour­nal­is­tic stan­dards and shape the inter­na­tion­al agen­da.

The first stop was Agence France-Presse (AFP) — one of the world’s old­est and largest news agen­cies, pub­lish­ing over 2,000 news items dai­ly in mul­ti­ple lan­guages and employ­ing hun­dreds of cor­re­spon­dents across dozens of coun­tries. Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists saw first­hand how AFP’s 24/7 news­room oper­ates, how fact-check­ing is orga­nized, and how inter­na­tion­al desks main­tain both objec­tiv­i­ty and speed in cov­er­ing events.

Equal­ly sig­nif­i­cant was the meet­ing with Reporters With­out Bor­ders (RSF) — an orga­ni­za­tion that has defend­ed press free­dom and jour­nal­ists around the world for more than 35 years. RSF is known for its annu­al rank­ing of coun­tries with the worst press free­dom records. The con­ver­sa­tion focused on the risks of work­ing in exile, per­son­al pres­sure on jour­nal­ists and their fam­i­lies, the need for anonymi­ty, and the psy­cho­log­i­cal chal­lenges of the pro­fes­sion.

French col­leagues shared prac­ti­cal insights on pro­vid­ing legal and finan­cial sup­port to media in exile — a top­ic espe­cial­ly rel­e­vant to Belaru­sian out­lets that now sur­vive almost entire­ly thanks to donor pro­grams and inter­na­tion­al sol­i­dar­i­ty.

A sol­i­dar­i­ty stand at the Reporters With­out Bor­ders (RSF) office. Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

Inside French public broadcasting and radio journalism

Spe­cial atten­tion was giv­en to Radio France Inter­na­tionale (RFI) — an inter­na­tion­al broad­cast­er reach­ing audi­ences in more than 150 coun­tries in dozens of lan­guages. Dis­cus­sions there focused on how to main­tain qual­i­ty in mul­ti­lin­gual broad­cast­ing, adapt news to diverse cul­tur­al con­texts, and com­mu­ni­cate with audi­ences liv­ing under pro­pa­gan­da pres­sure.

At Radio France — the country’s main pub­lic broad­cast­ing group — the Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists learned about its mod­el of mul­ti­me­dia oper­a­tions and inter­re­gion­al coor­di­na­tion. It’s not only a radio net­work but also a broad ecosys­tem of cul­tur­al and infor­ma­tion­al projects where tra­di­tion­al and dig­i­tal for­mats coex­ist.

The dis­cus­sions explored the role of pub­lic broad­cast­ing in demo­c­ra­t­ic coun­tries and how trans­paren­cy of fund­ing and audi­ence trust uphold the high stan­dards of jour­nal­ism.

Radio France Inter­na­tionale news­room. Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

Learning from Le Monde’s digital transformation

The vis­it con­clud­ed with a meet­ing at Le Monde, one of Europe’s most influ­en­tial news­pa­pers, which has been a sym­bol of ana­lyt­i­cal and inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ism for near­ly 80 years. The edi­tors shared their expe­ri­ence of tran­si­tion­ing from a tra­di­tion­al print mod­el to a dig­i­tal-first news­room. They explained how they not only retained but expand­ed their read­er­ship through in-depth analy­sis, inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism, and inno­v­a­tive visu­al sto­ry­telling.

The meet­ings allowed Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists to immerse them­selves in their French col­leagues’ pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence and see how sim­i­lar chal­lenges — edi­to­r­i­al inde­pen­dence, account­abil­i­ty to the audi­ence, finan­cial sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and jour­nal­ist safe­ty — are addressed in dif­fer­ent coun­tries.

Agence France-Presse news­room. Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

Cybersecurity, digital anonymity, and moral support

The dis­cus­sions with French media and orga­ni­za­tions went far beyond news­room prac­tices. They addressed the very sur­vival of jour­nal­ism in exile — and the human dimen­sion of the pro­fes­sion, when work becomes not just self-expres­sion but an act of civic courage.

Jour­nal­ists shared how they have built new edi­to­r­i­al teams abroad, often with­out per­ma­nent offices and under var­i­ous legal sta­tus­es. They dis­cussed coor­di­na­tion across teams scat­tered across cities and even con­ti­nents, main­tain­ing edi­to­r­i­al stan­dards with lim­it­ed resources, and uphold­ing pro­fes­sion­al ethics while col­leagues are impris­oned or under threat of per­se­cu­tion.

French part­ners were par­tic­u­lar­ly inter­est­ed in how the Belaru­sian media com­mu­ni­ty man­ages to main­tain vis­i­bil­i­ty and audi­ence trust despite being cut off from the domes­tic infor­ma­tion space.

Paris, Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

Anoth­er top­ic was the psy­cho­log­i­cal and phys­i­cal pres­sure faced by Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists and their fam­i­lies. Many must work anony­mous­ly, con­ceal­ing their edi­to­r­i­al affil­i­a­tions. French jour­nal­ists shared their approach­es to cyber­se­cu­ri­ty, dig­i­tal anonymiza­tion, data pro­tec­tion, and moral sup­port for staff — a theme espe­cial­ly close to the Belaru­sians, who con­tin­ue to face gov­ern­ment per­se­cu­tion even in exile.

Most inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian out­lets have been labeled “extrem­ist for­ma­tions” by the author­i­ties. This means even read­ers can be pun­ished for sub­scrib­ing or com­ment­ing. In such con­di­tions, eco­nom­ic inde­pen­dence is impos­si­ble, and most out­lets sur­vive thanks to inter­na­tion­al grants and aid pro­grams. The meet­ings includ­ed hon­est dis­cus­sions on bal­anc­ing donor depen­dence with edi­to­r­i­al auton­o­my, and build­ing long-term finan­cial sus­tain­abil­i­ty in exile.

Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists also had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to observe how French news­rooms work with sources, con­duct fact-check­ing, build inter­na­tion­al part­ner­ships, and orga­nize struc­tures for glob­al audi­ences. A key top­ic was journalism’s demo­c­ra­t­ic role — and its abil­i­ty to resist pro­pa­gan­da, an issue equal­ly rel­e­vant in both France and Belarus.

At the Reporters With­out Bor­ders (RSF) office. Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

A joint action for imprisoned journalists

The vis­it cul­mi­nat­ed in a joint action by the Belaru­sian del­e­ga­tion and French col­leagues in sup­port of impris­oned jour­nal­ists in Belarus. It was not only an act of sol­i­dar­i­ty but also a sym­bol of the profession’s uni­ty across bor­ders. French jour­nal­ists empha­sized that free­dom of speech is a shared val­ue — and that defend­ing Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists is part of Europe’s col­lec­tive respon­si­bil­i­ty.

Journalists’ comments

“The goal of our vis­it was to learn how major inter­na­tion­al media oper­ate and bring that expe­ri­ence into the Belaru­sian con­text,” said Maryia Prokharchyk, edi­tor-in-chief of This Min­sk Media. “For us, it’s not just pro­fes­sion­al curios­i­ty, but a chance to under­stand how to build a sus­tain­able news­room when near­ly every­thing must start from scratch.

Jour­nal­ism in Belarus is now vir­tu­al­ly banned, so we’re search­ing for new mod­els — how to remain pro­fes­sion­al and inde­pen­dent while keep­ing our teams, audi­ences, and belief in the pur­pose of our work.”

Edi­tor-in-chief of This Min­sk Media Maryia Prokharchyk giv­ing an inter­view to Radio France. Octo­ber 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

“I want­ed not only to see how French media oper­ate but also to learn what French jour­nal­ists know about the sit­u­a­tion in Belarus,” said Kat­siary­na Kulako­va, jour­nal­ist for Sal­i­dar­nasts.

“It was impor­tant to once again under­line the con­di­tions under which our col­leagues are work­ing — and the risks Belaru­sians take when they read inde­pen­dent media.

We also remind­ed our French part­ners about Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists impris­oned for their work — which is espe­cial­ly vital today.”