Belarusian Mass Media’s Helplessness :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarusian mass media are struggling for survival these days. They encounter serious problems with economic obstacles, derogatory legislation, censorship and constant fear of shutdown for the defamation of the head of state. President Alexander Lukashenko, meantime, in order to reinforce his sweeping powers, embarked on an ideological campaign.

Private periodicals have to pay for distribution almost at every corner. Even once they come up with an initiative on organizing street sales they got to pay, too. They need license for that, which is issued only in case the newspaper provides them with exact information as to where, when and for how long they suppose to trade and only given the newspaper pays a deposit in the size of an expected profit. Without computers’, which had been donated to the “Courier” newspaper by the Soros Foundation a few years ago, the newspaper would have ceased existence long ago. Before each new publication the editors of free newspapers of Vitebsk have to check with the censors the content of their materials.

Over the last half-year the official Belarus ruled to close five independent newspapers, according to the “Reporters without frontiers”. Critically-minded journalists, such as Alena Pankratova, for example, assume that there’s only one independent opposition newspaper in the country – “Narodnaya Volya”. However, it remains unclear for how long this newspaper, funded advantageously from USA, will be able to stay on ground. The companies, even western ones, never dare publish their advertisements in it. And the fact that the newspaper operates on American money makes it twice suspicious in the eyes of the regime. The “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” – another independent edition – has been temporarily suspended from publishing on May 28 for alleged defamation of the head of state and divulging the state secret to the readers’ audience.

The bureau of the Russian channel NTV in Minsk was shut down following a coverage of the funeral of Belarus’ renowned dissident writer Vasyl Bykov and a few interviews with opposition politicians, including the former head of state Shushkevich. Lukashenko simply couldn’t tolerate such disrespect and insult. Nonetheless, despite the NTV closure in Minsk, Lukashenko was given 20 minutes of air, which he used to explain his actions and at the same time praise NTV for being most independent and objective of all three Russian TV channels. Those, who voice criticism of Lukashenko in mass media (whether genuine or from libelous motives), should always fear imprisonment or something worse than that.

Last year the New York-based organization “Committee for journalists’ protection” came up with a protest against the enforced labor terms of three journalists – Nikolai Markevich, Pavel Mozheiko and Viktor Ivashkevich. All of them bitterly criticized Lukashenko, charging him with corruption. Over the past months many independent newspapers had to reregister, while some got shut from accusations of tax-evasion. This has brought about some strong-worded criticism in the west.

What goals is Lukashenko pursuing when launching his ideological campaign? Intelligentsia and his critics know the answer to that question. The head of state, says the dissident from Vitebsk Barschevsky, feels that he’s losing popularity, and, being a totally Soviet-minded person, gets down to the means of ideological influence. Valery Karbalevich from the independent “Strategy” institute assumes that Lukashenko seeks to create an atmosphere of the obligatory loyalty to the head of state in order to make up for the loss of trust in him among the populace.

Representatives of the Belarusian intelligentsia circles can’t consent with the West’s tendency to ignore such undertakings as futile. They claim that the impoverished, poorly educated people, brainwashed by the authoritarian ideology, can be quite vulnerable to the words of a strong leader. The ideological campaign, recently unleashed by Alexander Lukashenko, is a bad sign both for the independent mass media and opposition, which is always dependent on them.