BAJ: 2011 was among darkest for Belarusian media

Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Alyaksandr Starikevich believes that Belarus’ descend in the freedom of press to the 168th position was “absolutely unavoidable” because of 2011 events in the country.

“The year 2011 was one of the bleakest for Belarusian journalists and democratic forces,” he said answering the question of Telegraf.

However, BAJ Deputy Chairman noted that the rating of Reporters without Borders could contain some inaccuracies, as “freedom of press is not a temperature which could be simply measured by a thermometer.”

“The authorities are most likely to ignore this rating. Even at more liberal times and warming in relations with the West, they took no notice of such reports. Now, at best, there will be published an article in some state-run newspaper about how wicked “Reporters without borders” are. But most likely, nothing will happen at all, and it would be concealed,” said Alexander Starikevich.

We remind that compared to 2010, Belarus lost 14 positions according to the report of the international human rights organization Reporters without Borders on Press Freedom in 2011-2012. Now the country ranks 168th out of 179 countries. “Crackdowns on protests after Lukashenka’ re-election as president of Belarus forced the country by 14 positions down to the 168th position,” the human rights activists note.