Editing Mass media in Belarus (section)

=== Agencies ===

By 2015, Belarus hosted nine news agencies, two state-owned and seven private. The most important were [[Belarusian Telegraph Agency|BelTA]] (Belarus' largest news agency, and the official state news agency for nearly 90 years), [[BelaPAN]] (a private news agency founded in 1991), and {{Interlanguage link multi|Interfax-West|be|3=Интерфакс-Запад}} (part of [[Interfax]], that operated in Belarus since 1994 and catered primarily to national and local media).<ref name=EJC/><ref name=MassMedia>[http://www.belarus.by/en/about-belarus/mass-media-in-belarus "Mass media in Belarus"], Belarus.by, the Official Website of the Republic of Belarus, January 2015</ref> 

As of 2023, only 7 agencies remained.<ref>{{cite web
| url =https://president.gov.by/en/belarus/society/mass-media
| title =Mass Media in Belarus
| publisher =President of the Republic of Belarus 
| access-date =2024-03-08}}</ref> Interfax-West ceased operations in Belarus on 1 January 2022, due to amendments made to the Law on Mass Media of the Republic of Belarus in May 2021{{efn|In particular, the amendments introduced the ban on posting the results of public opinion polls related to the socio-political situation, if conducted without obtaining the necessary accreditation. It was also prohibited to place hyperlinks to messages and materials containing information labeled as prohibited. In addition, the authorities to restrict access to Internet resources or stop the publication of media outlets were defined, and the possibility of withdrawing accreditation of journalists for certain violations was introduced.<ref>{{cite web
| url =https://baj.media/ru/aglyady-manitoringi/smi-v-belarusi-v-2021-godu-0/
| title =СМИ в Беларуси в 2021 году
| language=ru
| trans-title = Media in Belarus 2021
| date =2022-04-04
| publisher =BAJ
| access-date =2024-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url =https://tass.ru/obschestvo/13341939
| title =Агентство Интерфакс-Запад объявило о прекращении работы в качестве СМИ с 1 января
| date =2021-12-31
| publisher =TASS
| access-date =2024-03-04}}</ref>}}.<ref>{{cite web
| url =https://www.interfax.ru/world/813680
| title ="Интерфакс-Запад" прекратил работу в Белоруссии с 1 января
| date =2022-01-01
| publisher =Interfax
| access-date =2024-03-04}}</ref> [[BelaPAN]] was declared extremist by the KGB, its editor-in-chief Irina Levshina and deputy director Andrey Aleksandrov were sentenced to 4 and 14 years in prison, respectively.<ref>{{cite web
| url =https://baj.media/en/support-politically-incarcerated-journalists-irina-levshina-and-andrei-aleksandrov/
| title =Support for Politically Incarcerated Journalists Irina Levshina and Andrei Aleksandrov
| date =2022-10-31
| publisher =BAJ
| access-date =2024-03-08}}</ref><ref name=ecpmf/><ref>{{cite web
| url =https://belsat.eu/en/news/14-11-2021-kgb-declares-belapan-extremist-formation
| title =KGB declares BelaPAN extremist formation
| date =2021-04-09
| publisher =Belsat
| access-date =2024-03-08}}</ref>