Hanna Liubakova

Hanna Liubakova is a freelance journalist and researcher from Belarus. She is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, and has written about the latest developments in Belarus for the Washington Post, the Economist, Open Democracy, and Outriders.

She works as a journalism trainer and mentor in the Transitions Solutions Journalism Programme in CEE.

Liubakova started her career at the only independent Belarusian TV channel where she worked as a correspondent and TV presenter. She has reported from various countries and regions, including Belgium, UK, Poland, France, and Chechnya. Hanna was a recipient of the Václav Havel Journalism Fellowship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Czech Republic, as well as a World Press Institute Fellowship in the United States. 

She received Master of Art with distinction in International Journalism from Brunel University in London in 2017. Liubakova was also awarded the Peter Caws Prize for best postgraduate dissertation.

Hanana writes for various international media outlets in four languages. She was selected from among over 300 international applications for a two-month professional program in the United States. First fellow from Belarus in the history of the fellowship. Liubakova carries out academic research on issues related to computational propaganda in Belarus and Poland. The project is aimed to discuss the main differences and strategies of the Kremlin propaganda in both countries; how such messages enter the Polish and Belarusian public discourse through the facade media; and how such media falsify the picture of reality. Awarded the Konstanty Kalinowski scholarship. At Belsat, she hosted the main news programme “In Focus”, working for the weekly analytical programme “World and Us”, covering major international events, such as the 2016 Warsaw NATO Summit, the 2013 EaP Summit in Vilnius, Cannes Film Festival (2015, 2016). 

Hanna is the recipient of 2014/2015 Vaclav Havel Journalism Fellowship aimed at supporting aspiring journalists from countries lacking media freedom and independence. On air radio presenting, researching, creating video and text content for the RFE/RL website, reporting from the US, Czech Republic and Belarus.