Belarusian Viktar Malisheuski, author of the antijournalist.by blog, won the prestigious Deutsche Welle contest for bloggers "The Bobs-2016." He spoke about the project and plans for the future.
About Victory
When asked if the victory was expected, the blogger humbly said he did not even registered for the competition. He said he did not even know the procedure used to get there. Incidentally, this is his second nomination for The Bobs. The first one was in 2010. Then the blog was in LiveJournal and did not win.
But according to Viktar Malisheuski, The Bobs among bloggers is the same as the Oskar nomination for actors: even the nomination leaves a mark on the reputation, not to mention the victory.
At the same time, the antijournalist.by author is surprised that he was in the category "Websites and blogs in Russian." According to him, this project should have been placed in the category "Citizen Journalism":
"And though I say to everyone that I am not a journalist, but antijournalist, theoretically, I fit in this nomination, and there the decision would be made by the jury and vote."
According to Malisheuski, the website "Takie Dela" (This is Life) (main competitor) is ideally suited for the category "Best Initiative".
"If you look at the competition of this year, there are very few bloggers. I was the only lone blogger in the nomination. All the rest are media resources very similar to blogs, but they gather people on one platform."
About the Belarusian language
According to the blogger, the competition lacks the "Best Website and Blog in the Belarusian Language" nomination. For example, there is a separate nomination in the Ukrainian-language segment of the Internet:
"I did not want it to be "populist statement on the eve of the election," jokes Malisheuski. - But I am working on a page in the Belarusian language. And at the award ceremony I will push for there being a nomination for best site in the Belarusian language next year. It will definitely give impetus to the blog."
About my blog
The story of the antijournalist.by project began in 2008 with a LJ blog. Now, this platform also exists, but is used for other purposes.
"What does my blog talk about? 80% of the articles contain an analysis of the statistical data or official statements: content analysis of President addresses, demographic and other statistics. I'm trying to look at a topic not like everyone else. Now I am comparing how much the state spends on the KGB and culture. Oddly enough, the numbers are similar."
Malisheuski said that the blog is still not 100% ready and far from how he wants it to be, it looks more like notes on the margins.
On the blogosphere and media in Belarus
The blogosphere is now becoming more commercial. It may be bad, but it is also a way of development, Malisheuski believes. In America, for example, bloggers took two niches - film critic and culinary critic.
According the antijournalist author, bloggers are less biased than the media which even need them to tell the truth.
Viktar Malisheuski says that although everyone predicted increase in the number of bloggers and decline in the online media, the reality was different. Bloggers wrote and left, because the need for regular earnings remains.
On fears
The winner of The Bobs-2016 says that now the most important thing for him is to stay true to himself. "My biggest fear is that I'll start to write like the winner of The Bobs". Suddenly, Malisheuski asks a question: "It will be interesting to see how DiCaprio will act later."
At the same time, we should not overestimate the role of bloggers: "It is not the blogger who makes a revolution, but the revolution makes a blogger," sums up Viktar Malisheuski.