English

Leaders of Belarusian Association of Journalists meet with Lukashenka's ideology chief

Leaders of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) met on Wednesday with Usevalad Yanchewski, head of the Presidential Administration's ideology department, to discuss woes of private media.

The meeting took place at the suggestion of the BAJ and lasted more than an hour, said the BAJ press office.
Under discussion were the possibility of the authorities' restoring access for private media to the government-controlled distribution service and the enforcement of regulations governing fight against extremist groups.

BAJ head Zhanna Litvina and her deputy, Andrey Bastunets, also raised the accreditation of foreign journalists, raids that were conducted this past March at the offices of independent broadcasters and homes of reporters working for them, access to government information sources, the regulation of the Internet, and national laws governing the media, according to the report.

Mr. Yanchewski asked "many additional questions," the press office said. He asked about the recent detention of the Arche magazine's newly issued copies at the Belarusian-Polish border, conditions for the operation of local media outlets and the professional competence of reporters.

The leaders of the BAJ urged the official to give private media outlets access to the distribution service.
They said following the meeting that they "have not received any guarantees that all key problems will be solved, but the number of questions and the interest showed by the official gave hope for certain developments."

The meeting came a few days after Mr. Yanchewski pledged at a conference on online news sources that environment for private media outlets would be improved. //BelaPAN