Natallya Pyatkevich: “I thought a lot about mass media self-regulation”

A seminar training “Mass Media Self-Regulation”, organized by the OSCE Office and the Ministry of Information, takes place in the National Press Center in Minsk on September 8.

The seminar attracted representatives of the President’s Administration, Ministry of Information, OSCE Office in Minsk, the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the Belarusian Union of Journalists, as well as journalists, experts on the mass media from Belgium, Bulgaria, Russia, and Belarus.

First deputy head of the President’s Administration Natallya Pyatkevich noticed opening the seminar that such events had already become a tradition. “I though a lot about the mass media self-regulation before the seminar. It is often regarded one-sided, as independence of editorial staff. It is not so. In my view, self-regulation is a broader notion that includes self-discipline and responsibility of journalists before a person, society, and the state,” Pyatkevich told.

As an example, she told about the situation when human remains had been found in Hlubokae town (the Vitsebsk region) and some media outlets didn’t wait for results of expert evaluation and informed there were remains of slaughtered Poles. “I don’t understand – this is either impurity of journalist, or a provocation,” Pyatkevich said. She noted that the International Day of Journalists’ Solidarity was marked on September 8, but only “Savetskaya Belorussia” wrote about it.

Hans Jochen Schmidt, the head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, thanked the seminar organizers for the event. “There are two organizations in Belarus able to influence the mass media self-regulation, they are the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the Belarusian Union of Journalists,” the diplomat said. “I am happy to see the campaign “Clean Bynet”, which is to remove problems with rights of authorship in the Internet. I think the mass media self-regulation is an effective instrument of settling disputes. There wouldn’t have been numerous claims against independent mass media, for example, newspapers “Novy Chas”, “Vitsebski Kuryer M”, “Komsomolskaya Pravda V Belorussia”, if the self-regulation had been more effective.”

The diplomat expressed a hope the experience of Western Europe and Russia in this sphere would be useful for Belarusian journalists.