“MPs” adopted Draft Law on Media in first reading

The Draft Law on Media allows for registration of Internet resources, moreover, Belarusian Internet will be regulated not by laws, but by regulations of the Council of Ministers. At present, there are practically no independent printed editions in Belarus. Radio and TV are controlled by the authorities. The Internet has been the only source of alternative information. The law passed by vote of 93-1 in the “parliament”.

“The order of state registration of mass media, spreading via the global computer network Internet, as well as the order of spreading of these media falls into competence of the Council of Ministers, according to the draft law,” first deputy minister of information of Belarus Liliya Ananich said today in the “parliament”.

The draft law have been prepared in closed regime for 5 years at the suggestion of the Presidential Administration. He was introduced to the Belarusian “parliament” on 10 June and the next day the date of its reviewing was appointed - 17 June.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists received the draft law text shortly before the reading. Having analysed the draft law on media on Friday, the BAJ lawyers came to a conclusion that if the law is adopted as it is drafted now, the independent press will get irreparable blow, which will make it difficult for them to survive and lead to eliminating of independent media in the country.

The fact that adoption of the draft law can lead to blocking of all Internet-media that are not registered in Belarus triggers great concern. Moreover, activity of Internet-resources will be regulated not by laws but by acts of the Council of Ministers.

According to the draft law on media, a list of violations, which are subject to warnings for editors, is blurred and unlimited, and activity of printed edition can be suspended after only one notice. Moreover, not only the Ministry of Information but also any judge, prosecutor and official can deliver warnings.

Nevertheless, the “MPs” didn’t criticise the draft law during the discussion. “The law is important, necessary and well-timed,” “member of the parliament” Valer Lektarau noted. He also said “every deputy received letters from the Belarusian Association of Journalists containing claims to the draft law.”

In this connection “MP” Anatol Krasutski noted that “a number of the claims are not true and stay in contradictions with the text of the law.”

Belarusian high-rank officials have recently spoken for tightening of the law on media. In particular, Liliya Ananich, deputy minister of information, said Belarus had faced a problem of “stream of misinformation from foreign websites, but there are practices used in China, which blocked the access to the sites on its territory.”

Aleh Pralyaskouski, director of the Information Analytical Center at the Presidential Administration, insists on necessary “increasing of responsibility for information on the Internet” and offers to place responsibility for spreading information via the Internet on a website’s administrator and an owner of Internet resource and a provider.