Press in Belarus

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In addition to private newspapers, the state press plays an important role in the press newspaper market in Belarus . The main tasks of the state media in Belarus are to disseminate information about the policies of the executive , especially the President, and to create a positive image of this policy among the population.

In Reporters Without Borders' 2017 press freedom ranking, Belarus ranks 153rd out of 180 countries and territories.

General

While the state press receives significant financial support from the state budget, private print media have to contend with various possible restrictions. Controversial court cases against newspapers considered to be oppositional, for example against Nascha Niwa in 1998 , who at the time was accused of using a non-officially approved spelling of Belarusian, s. u. The exclusion of the respective medium from the sales catalogs of the state-owned companies Belsajusdruk and Belposchta is also considered a threat against politically unpleasant print media . They have a quasi-monopoly on press distribution in Belarus. In 2010 there were almost 30 state-independent newspapers in Belarus. Due to economic discrimination, however, they usually only have small editions of a few hundred copies and, due to state sanctions, they cannot be subscribed to or sold at kiosks. A government warning is sufficient to suspend the publication of a magazine. If there are two warnings, it can be forbidden. Many non-state newspapers therefore restrict themselves to advertisements and apolitical entertainment. With the expansion of the Internet, online communication is becoming more and more important for Belarusians. A concentration of private press products on a few oligarchs was largely prevented in Belarus . However, information on the real owners of private newspapers and their financial implications is difficult to obtain.

State newspapers

By far the daily newspaper with the highest circulation in Belarus is Belarus Sevodnja , also known by its former name Sovetskaya Belorussija . It has been published since 1927. It has a circulation of more than 300,000 copies (380,000 on Saturdays); The publisher is the administration of the President of Belarus. The newspaper appears in Russian . It can be sold at a low price thanks to considerable government support, pays its journalists high salaries by Belarusian standards, and appears in relatively high-quality color printing. It is the central print medium for state information policy.

Other high-circulation state newspapers in Belarus are Respublika and Swjasda with circulations of around 53,000 and 42,000 copies respectively. The Respublika, founded in 1991, is published by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus; the newspaper appears bilingual in Russian and Belarusian. Svyazda is published by the Belarusian parliament (National Assembly, formerly Supreme Soviet) and the Council of Ministers and is the only state newspaper that appears exclusively in Belarusian . The so-called Narkamauka is used as the orthography of Belarusian . This officially valid spelling, which has been used since 1933 with small changes, is rejected by its opponents as Russified.

Private newspapers

In the private sector, the Belarusian edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda , a tabloid with the headquarters in Russia , has the highest circulation. Their daily circulation is 40,000 copies, on Fridays 318,000; the sheet appears entirely in Russian. The Russian-language weekly Argumenty i Fakty , also a local Belarusian branch of the Russian newspaper of the same name, is widely read ; according to a survey from 2002, 30.8% of the respondents read this newspaper. Komsomolskaya Pravda and Argumenty i Fakty largely stay out of the conflicts between President Aljaksandr Lukashenka and the national opposition in Belarus; the focus of their reporting is on Russian and rather non-political Belarusian topics.

The weekly newspapers BelGaseta (until 2005 Belorusskaja Gazeta ) and Belorusy i Rynok (until 2005 Belorusskij Rynok ) are to be mentioned as independent Russian-language newspapers with the headquarters in Belarus . Their print runs are around 18,000 (BelGazeta) and around 13,000 (Belorusy i Rynok). Both newspapers analyze in detail the political and economic events in Belarus. They take a critical, distant, sometimes ironic stance towards Lukashenka's politics as well as towards the nationally-minded opposition.

Narodnaya Volja and Nascha Niwa are considered to be the most important newspapers of the opposition to the Belarusian president . Both were banned from the state distribution system in Belarus and have been distributed by private volunteers ever since. Narodnaja Wolja is bilingual Russian-Belarusian and appears twice a week, in 2005 with a circulation of 30,000 copies. Its editor-in-chief, Iosif Sereditsch , had been editor-in-chief of the state newspaper Narodnaya Gazeta before Narodnaya Volya was founded , from which he had to resign for political reasons. In the presidential election campaign in 2006, Narodnaya Volja reported benevolently about the candidacy of Alyaksandr Kasulin , the former rector of the Belarusian State University .

Nascha Niwa is the oldest Belarusian-language newspaper. It first appeared in 1906–1915 and was re-established in 1991 by nationally minded intellectuals. Nascha Niwa is published in the so-called Taraschkewiza , a spelling of the Belarusian language that is based on the orthography that was valid until 1933. It is considered by its proponents to be the more authentic Belarusian orthography. The newspaper sympathizes with the national opposition in Belarus and supported the candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich in the 2006 presidential election campaign .

Sources cited

  1. ↑ a b c Средства массовой информации ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Russian speaking) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eurasianhome.org
  2. ↑ a b c W. Dorochow: Mass media in Belarus. Belarus Studies No. 2, German-Belarussian Society, 2005; Page 22. ISSN  1860-9562

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