Keeping Hope Alive as a Journalist in Exile

About this episode

Nastassia Rouda discusses the challenges and strategies of operating a Belarusian media outlet in exile.

On this week's episode, Bakhti sits down with Nastassia Rouda, director of Nasha Niva, a Belarusian media outlet operating in exile in Vilnius. Rouda discusses how she and her colleagues have used new types of content and social media to remain relevant and grow their audience inside of Belarus, even as Belarusians experience economic downturn and political repression. She talks about how she and other hosts on their network rely on humor to keep hope alive for a freer future for their country and maintain interest in free media among the millions of Belarusians of all ages who tune into their online shows. --- Nastassia Rouda is the director of Nasha Niva, Belarus's oldest newspaper. Founded in 1906 upon Belarus's independence, the paper is best known for its role in preserving Belarusian language, culture, and art. The paper closed in 1914 as it became illegal to criticize their government during World War I and was re-established in 1991. In the 2010's, Nasha Niva moved online and became one of the most popular websites in Belarus. In 2020, following Nasha Niva's coverage of the Belarusian presidential election and subsequent protests, the KGB declared the paper an extremist…

People in this episode

Host: Bakhti

Guest: Nastassia Rouda

Topics covered

• journalism
• exile
• media
• Belarus
• political repression
• social media
• hope

Keywords

• Nasha Niva
• Belarus
• journalism in exile
• political repression
• social media
• hope
• media audience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nasha Niva

Places: Belarus, Vilnius

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