BelaPAN facts for kids

The Belarusian Private News Agency, or BelaPAN (Belarusian: БелаПАН), is an independent news agency in Belarus. It is one of the main sources of news in the country. BelaPAN shares news about politics, the economy, and sports from Belarus. You can read their news in Russian, Belarusian, and English. The agency has many reporters and writers working for it.

BelaPAN also works on projects like advertising and watching elections. They own an online newspaper called Belorusskiye Novosti. Since 2004, BelaPAN has been the only Belarusian member of CEE-BusinessLine. In 2019, Media IQ said BelaPAN was very good at being clear from government influence. The agency is known for giving fair and balanced news about events.

History of BelaPAN

How BelaPAN Started

BelaPAN was started on November 19, 1991. Two journalists, Aleś Lipaj and Vital Cyhankoŭ, created it. In 1992, Iryna Leŭšyna joined the team. She became the editor-in-chief later on. She remembers that BelaPAN's first office was very small. It had only one computer, one fax machine, and three desks. At first, they printed news and delivered it by hand to other newspapers in Minsk.

Over time, the company grew. In 1996, they moved to a bigger office. In the early 2000s, they tried to start a newspaper called Отдыхай (which means 'Rest'). But it didn't make enough money, so they closed it. By 2001, six out of nine radio stations in Minsk used news from BelaPAN. In 2002, the agency had many different teams. These included teams for analysis, advertising, publishing, and web design.

On January 1, 2002, BelaPAN launched its online newspaper, ‘Belorusskiye novosti’ (Naviny.by). This was the first online newspaper in Belarus. It was special because it published news on the same day it happened, unlike paper newspapers.

In 2007, BelaPAN started a separate team for multimedia. They began using infographics in July of that year. By 2008, BelaPAN was publishing at least 100 news articles every day. The company also had a service to monitor news and an advertising agency.

Over the years, BelaPAN's journalists sometimes faced difficulties. They were questioned and sometimes stopped from doing their work.

BelaPAN in the 2010s

On October 24, 2011, BelaPAN's website was hacked. The hackers put a picture of Lukashenko on the main page.

Later, on December 20, 2014, the websites for BelaPAN and Naviny were blocked. On October 3, 2015, BelaPAN's server had a big DDoS attack. This happened after they published articles about a protest. Other times the site was blocked were on March 27, 2015, and February 15, 2016. These blockages happened during important political events. Even though the government was likely behind the blocks, they officially blamed hackers. Other independent news sites were also blocked at the same time.

The BelTA Case

Some journalists and the editor-in-chief of BelaPAN were questioned. They were accused of using news from a government-owned agency called BelTA without paying. BelaPAN’s editor-in-chief, Iryna Leŭšyna, was held for three days. Groups that support human rights, like the BAJ and OSCE, said this was meant to scare independent media. They felt the government's actions were too strong.

BelaPAN in the 2020s

On January 14, 2021, BelaPAN's office was searched. Computers and documents were taken, which made it hard for the news agency to work.

On August 18, 2021, the police searched BelaPAN's office and the homes of six employees. Five journalists were taken in for questioning. This included the director and chief editor Iryna Leushyna, and other staff members. The police also took BelaPAN's computers and the journalists' personal devices. These actions made it very difficult for BelaPAN to continue its work.

In November 2021, the KGB said BelaPAN was an "extremist formation." In Belarus, creating or joining such a group is against the law. Because of this, BelaPAN's websites, which were already blocked, stopped updating.

The former team from BelaPAN and Naviny.by later started a new news agency called Pozirk. In October 2023, they announced the launch of their new website, Pozrik.online.

Awards and Recognition

BelaPAN has won many awards for its work, including:

• The Dźmitry Zavadski Prize "For Courage and Professionalism" (2004).
• The Zeit Foundation's Free Media Awards (2005).
• The Runet Prize for being the best online Russian language news source outside Russia (2006).
• Corporate Social Responsibility Award (2016).
• Editor-in-chief Iryna Leǔšyna received the Journalist of Year award (2018).
• BelaPAN’s reporter Taciana Karaviankova was given the Civil Society Champion prize (2018).
• Leader of Consumer Market Award (2019).