Press Release: New EU broadcasting initiative for Belarus

The European Commission on 26 January 2006 announced which media consortium was to undertake a €2 million project to increase access in Belarus to independent sources of news and information. The selected consortium, led by Media Consulta (Germany) included implementing partners from Poland (European Radio for Belarus), Lithuania (Radio Baltic Wave), Belarus (journalists, civil society and NGOs), and Russia (RTVi), which were to broadcast by satellite from Germany. The consortium was to be supported by a number of EU NGOs specialised in the media sector. The two-year project was planned to cover radio and TV broadcasts, internet, support to the Belarusian written press and training of journalists. The radio and TV broadcasting programmes were to start in February 2006 before the presidential elections in Belarus.