Andrei Bastunets: Independent press to be suppressed again

The law on mass media needs a serious discussion and amendments.

Why do the authorities not want discussions? What can independent journalists expect in the run-up to the presidential elections?

“Quite perfect and professional laws on press and mass media” have been formed in Belarus, Zavtra Tvoey Strany writes.

The statement was made by information minister Liliya Ananich during the opening ceremony of the 19th International Exhibition “Media in Belarus”.

Is it true that Belarusian legislation on the mass media doesn't need amendments?

“The sense of Liliya Ananich's remark is not that there's no need for a discussion. The authorities are just not going to discuss anything. They will do what they want,” Andrei Bastunets, the head of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), notes. “Such remarks is like an insurance shot in the head to make sure the victim is dead.”

According to him, new amendments to the law on media only made old problems worse.

“The law is controversial. It doesn't comply with international standards. Both Belarusian and foreign experts began to criticise it even more, so it needs a serious discussion and amendments,” the BAJ head stresses.

Andrei Bastunets says the BAJ contacted the Ministry of Information and Lukashenka's Administration regarding amendments to the legislation on the mass media. Officials assured journalists that the planned amendments would be widely discussed.

“We heard these promises in the first half of the year, but the Ministry of Information forgot about them by the end of the year. Moreover, they didn't fulfil the instruction of Lukashenka's aide Usevalad Yancheuski to organise a wide discussion on amendments. It turned out that nobody was going to listen to any proposals,” the BAJ head notes.

– Liliya Ananich said in August 2008 after the adoption of the law on mass media that it “complies with international standards and will in no case worsen the state of journalists or infringe on freedom of speech”. In your view, why did the authorities amend the law on mass media?

– A special commission of the “house of representatives” replied to the BAJ's request last October that legislation on freedom of expression didn't require any amendments. The MPs made this conclusion after consultations with the Ministry of Information. Nevertheless, the commission and the whole lower house voted for very serious amendments to the law on media in the middle of December.

I think these officials say and do what the political moment requires them to do.

– In other words, the law was changed in view of the upcoming presidential elections, wasn't it?

– The election campaign traditionally influences the situation in the country. But we should not forget about the economic instability and the war in Ukraine, which showed that the eastern vector is not so harmless for Belarus as it might have seemed earlier. All doubts, problems and challenges that governmental bodies have faced make them apply their usual methods of tightening screws: they decided to increase pressure and suppress independent press again.