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Experts draw up media reform “roadmap” in framework of Reforum projec

Experts involved in the Reforum project have drawn up a “roadmap” for reforms that would help adapt the Belarusian media sector to present-day challenges, Andrey Bastunets, chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said at a conference in Minsk on May 29.

Under the reform plan, authorities would be invited to establish a public advisory council for monitoring media content and end the persecution of independent journalists at the initial stage, according to Mr. Bastunets.

It also includes a proposal to change the list of the TV channels required to be available to all viewers in Belarus. “It currently includes nine channels, and four of them distribute products made in Russia,” said Mr. Bastunets. According to him, the channels are “wide-open doors for propaganda information from the eastern neighbor.”

The experts suggest that TV channels of European Union countries be included in the list to make its content more balanced, said Mr. Bastunets.

Reforum was launched in January 2014 as part of the EU’s European Dialogue on Modernization with Belarus.

The project is being carried out by the Vilnius-based Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies (BISS) with the support of the European Commission and consulting company Pact.

During four six-month cycles each of the four entities involved in the project - the opposition and civil society, the government, the business community and the public - is to propose four priority areas for reforms and 16 for projects.

The proposals are to be selected by a council that consists of opposition and civil society figures and representatives of the BISS and the EU’s Delegation to Belarus. // BelaPAN