The report presents an overview of the media landscape in each country of the Eastern Partnership region and assesses the latest developments that affect the good functioning of the media.
“The publication of the document has been developed as part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) East Media Freedom Watch Project conducted from July through October 2015 by Internews Ukraine in partnership with media nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova”, is mentioned in the summary of the report. Its aim was “to support the freedom of the media by raising regional and international awareness of the situation with media freedom and journalists’ rights in these six states”, the document reads.
“The project highlighted and regularly analyzed all events and processes taking place regarding media freedom and made the target audience in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) members and other countries aware of these developments. Journalists’ working environment and violence against them, censorship, transparency of ownership in media, relationships between journalists and politicians, the quality of media legislation and many other topics were the issues the project team focused on”, - is said in the document.
The Belarusian part of the report was implemented in partnership with the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) as part of the Support to the Activities of the EaP Civil Society Forum Project.
You can read the report on Belarus below.
POLICY
In October 2015 presidential elections were held in Belarus. During the election year the Belarusian legislation on the media was tightened. On January 1, 2015 amendments to the Law on Mass Media entered into force. In particular, these amendments extended the liability established by law to Internet media and ordered owners of Internet media to keep track of site visitors. The Ministry of Information acquired the right to block access to online resources extra judicially (access could be blocked for even one violation of the media legislation). The list of information prohibited for distribution in the media, already vaguely formulated and allowing for broad interpretation, was completed with the item, "…information, the dissemination of which can harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus." The requirement of mandatory registration of distributors of media products (except the editorial offices themselves) was introduced, allowing the Ministry of Information to ban distribution of a mass media product.
Early this year, Presidential Decree No. 6 “On urgent measures to combat drug trafficking" signed on December 28, 2014 entered into force. It affects the activities of Internet resources and aims to establish total control over the behavior of Internet users. According to paragraph 9 of the decree, starting on January 1, 2016 Internet service providers will have to "ensure the collection and storage of relevant data about information resources visited by Internet services users."
PRACTICE
The key problems of the media in Belarus in the 10 months of 2015 have been 1) increased prosecution of journalists whose articles were published in foreign media, 2) problems with the distribution of independent publications and 3) active interference by the Ministry of Information in the activity of print media and Internet resources.
A positive development is that the number of short-term arrests of journalists in 2015 decreased compared with other years (11 arrests in 10 months of the current year compared to 29 in 2014).
Increased prosecution of journalists for cooperation with foreign media. In 2015, the pressure on journalists who cooperate with foreign media without accreditation has increased. Based on reports drawn up by the police, the courts held journalists liable for the arbitrarily interpreted part 2 of Art. 22.9 of the Administrative Code which provides liability for unlawful production and/or distribution of media products. This practice began in May 2014 and expanded in 2015. While in 2014 only 10 journalists were held liable under Art. 22.9, from January to August 2015 this number increased to 28 cases. The journalists were fined between 20 and 50 base units (one base unit is 180,000 rubles which corresponds to approximately 10 euros). In all cases, the grounds for sanctions were not the content of the articles but the fact of their appearance in foreign media itself.
After President Alexander Lukashenko promised at the beginning of August at a press conference to take care of the situation, no new cases under Art. 22.9 against journalists were initiated, although the cases started earlier resulted in imposing fines.
Problems with distribution of print materials. The requirement for compulsory registration of media distributors introduced in the Law on Mass Media entered into force on July 1. Some independent newspapers that had been selling a significant number of their publications through trade enterprises and entrepreneurs were faced with a decrease in sales of their products. The media outlets that could not distribute their products through the Belpochta state-owned enterprises which dominate the market for disseminating media products or through the companies in the Soyuzpechat system were particularly affected. In the spring and summer of 2015, Gazeta Slonimskaja, Intex-press and Intex-press plus, and Svobodnye Novosti Plus faced a new refusal to be included in the subscription catalogue of Belpochta or to be sold in Soyuzpechat kiosks on the grounds of inappropriateness. In September, such refusals were sent to the newspapers Novy Chas and Borisovskie Novosti.
The interference of the Ministry of Information in the activity of print media. At the beginning of 2015, the Ministry of Information issued 27 warnings to 26 media outlets. According to the ministry, the reason for the warnings was the incorrect indication in the publication data of the name of the registering authority ("Ministry of Information RB" instead of "Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus"). These insignificant grounds for issuing the warnings (considering the fact that after two warnings in a year the Ministry of Information is entitled to apply to court to stop the release of media products) show that, perhaps, the real goal was to increase self-censorship in the media on the eve of the election campaign. Details about the interference of the Ministry of Information into activities of Internet media are in the section Internet and New Media.
BROADCASTING
On January 1, 2015, the amendments to the Law on Mass Media entered into force introducing the definition of a mandatory public television package as a list of television programs to be broadcast by telecommunications operators and providers of telecommunications services in the Republic of Belarus. (Previously the package was formed based on normative acts). According to Art. 26-1 of the law, telecommunications operators and telecommunications service providers who distribute television programs are required to ensure that each subscriber can watch the television programs included in the mandatory package. Failure to do so can be grounds for issuing warnings to distributors of television programs by the Ministry of Information.
The list of TV programs included in the mandatory public package was approved by Council of Ministers Order No. 407 dated May 13, 2015 that entered into force on 1 July. It includes 9 channels ((Беларусь 1, Общенациональное телевидение, Столичное телевидение, Мир, Россия-Беларусь, НТВ-Беларусь, Беларусь 2, Беларусь 3 and Беларусь 5.) ( Belarus 1, National TV, Capital TV, Peace, Russia-Belarus, NTV-Belarus, Belarus 2, Belarus 3 and Belarus 5 .) Thus, out of nine TV channels that were included in the mandatory package without a tender, four of them provide information and journalistic products made in Russia.
In 2015, Belarus shifted to digital broadcasting. The main problem of digital television in Belarus is the completely non-transparent and closed nature of the formation of national multiplexes both in terms of legal framework and commercial practices.
INTERNET AND NEW MEDIA
On February 19, the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Operations and Analysis Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus approved the Regulation on the Limitation of Access to Information Resources (or their components) placed on the global computer network. This document was adopted pursuant to Decree No. 6 and amendments to the Law on Mass Media and largely copies its provisions. Among the innovations were a reference to the possibility for blocking the means to ensure anonymity (proxy servers, anonymous Tor networks, etc.) which allows users to access Internet resources that have been restricted. Unlike previously when access to the websites included in the "black list" was restricted only in public institutions, educational and cultural establishments, access is now blocked for all users in Belarus.
On June 18, the Ministry of Information decided to restrict access to the Internet magazine kyky.org. As mentioned in the release issued by the ministry, a number of online publications "…contain derogatory remarks about the national holiday of the Republic of Belarus—Victory Day—the country's citizens participating in it, questioning the importance of this event in the history of the state thereby distorting the historical truth about the Great Patriotic War." In addition, the ministry indicated that the materials on the website contain, "…forbidden vocabulary, disparaging, and sometimes insulting remarks against members of certain social groups, nationalities and religions." The administration of kyky.org did not receive any warnings or instructions. Access to the website was restored six days later after a meeting of the management of kyky.org with the Ministry of Information and after the administration removed the material that had led to the claim of the ministry.
In mid-June, another incident of blocking and later resuming access became known. The website was Hata.by, a resource for real estate sales and leases. On June 24, the Ministry of Information additionally blocked access to the websites bizator.by, ekomok.by, ilotok.by, localmart.by and slanet.by which, according to Minister of Information Liliya Ananich, were using their platforms for “misleading advertising of pharmaceutical products." According to the Ministry of Information, in the first half of the year they restricted access to 26 websites, most of which dealt with the sale of pharmaceutical products or contained articles with forbidden vocabulary. Access to two websites was later restored after they had taken measures to "eliminate the violations."
On October 3, the server of the information company BelaPAN which hosted the sites of the information campaign and its affiliated online newspaper Naviny.by was subject to a massive DDoS attack that lasted several days. According to BelaPAN, these attacks had to do with the publication on Naviny.by of articles about the religious-political action “Prayer for Belarus." The article criticized the methods of its organization and presented the opinions of students who "were ordered" to attend the event with the participation of the head of state.
CONCLUSIONS
The first half of 2015 was characterized by increased government pressure on the media. Since late August, the pressure has decreased somewhat, probably due to the presidential election and to the intention of official Minsk to achieve a positive evaluation by the international community. Nevertheless, the situation with the freedom of expression remains unfavorable due to total state control over the country's information space.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1) Public authorities should stop putting administrative pressure on Belarusian journalists and media and should introduce a moratorium on the use of extrajudicial sanctions against the subjects of the media and eliminate extrajudicial blocking of websites. 2) They should provide equal conditions for access to public distribution systems to state and non-state media, for allocating frequency resources, for licensing and for advertising. 3) Public authorities should eliminate the requirement for accreditation of Belarusian journalists whose articles appear in foreign mass media and should add the definition of the status of freelance journalists to the Law on Mass Media
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