Fast Facts In a country that has been referred to as "Europe's last dictatorship," RFE/RL's Radio Svaboda is one of the leading news websites and one of the few media outlets accessible to Belarusians in their own language. Language: Belarusian Coverage: Eight hours daily, 30 minutes weekly on Warsaw-based Belsat TV Established: 1954 Distribution: Radio (SW, MW, Satellite), Internet (www.svaboda.org) Locations: Prague headquarters, Minsk Staff: 12 in Prague, 40 in Minsk

Media Environment

• Freedom House Freedom of the Press Index, 2010: Not Free (189th/196)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, 2009: 151st/175
• Often referred to as the "last dictatorship in Europe," Belarus remains one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. Independent media are limited and often subject to harassment, and the security services closely monitor all communications within the country.
• Members of the opposition have no access to the mass media and are routinely imprisoned. Belarus is the only country in Europe that has never allowed local rebroadcasts of RFE/RL programs.

History

• Radio Svaboda was established in 1954, broadcasting on SW to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia.
• Radio Svaboda was one of the first RFE/RL language services to stake a claim in cyberspace, launching its website in 1998.
• In 2008, in partnership with Poland's Belsat television company, the Belarus Service launched its first weekly half-hour talk show,"This Week with Radio Liberty," providing Belarusian satellite television subscribers with an opportunity to explore three hot topics of the week with our correspondents and guest commentators.

Highlights

• Radio Svaboda provides its audiences with 24/7 coverage of the news, integrating radio output with up-to-the-minute web coverage.
• Correspondent Aleh Hruzdzilovich won the 2009 “Best Journalist” award from the Rights Defense Alliance in Minsk.
• In 2009, three more books and two multimedia discs were released as part of the Belarus Service's popular "Liberty Library" series -- with a 1000-copy print release for each and a collective 65,000 downloads from the service's Web site. Radio Svaboda has sponsored the publication of some 15 books including memoirs, essays, poems and historical tomes.
• In April 2008, while covering mass protests in Minsk, Radio Svaboda was the target of the strongest cyber attack to date on an RFE/RL service. The attack stirred widespread reaction in Belarus and abroad, becoming the subject of discussions in the U.S. Congress, State Department, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
• During a 72-hour furlough from prison to attend his wife’s funeral in February 2008, ex-presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin paid a visit to Svaboda's Minsk bureau for an online conference with readers. Kazulin likened the Radio Svaboda programming he listened to from his prison cell to an “air of freedom.”
• In 2008, in partnership with Poland's "Belsat" television company, the Belarus Service launched its first weekly half-hour talk show "This Week with Radio Liberty," providing Belarusian satellite television subscribers with an opportunity to explore three hot topics of the week with Svaboda's correspondents and guest commentators.
• Svaboda.org is now one of the leading news and information websites in Belarus and has pioneered the use of regular weekly online conferences, allowing audiences to interact directly with a selected “newsmaker of the week.”

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Population
8.78 Million (World Bank Estimate, 2009)

Most Common Languages:
Belarusian, Russian, Ukranian, Polish, Yiddish

Press Freedom Index (Freedom House)
Not Free, ranked 188 out of 196 (2010)

Press Freedom Index (RSF):
154 out of 178 (2010)

Corruption Index (Transparency Int.):
127 out of 178 (2010)

Global Peace Index (IES):
105 out of 149 (2010)

Human Rights Watch:
Report on Belarus (2010)

Amnesty International:
Belarus Report (2010)