BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/02/2006

EU media walk political tightrope in Belarus

By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU media should promote European integration without attacking president Lukashenko, Belarusian journalists say, after a new EU-funded station beamed information into Belarus last weekend.

The EU-sponsored, German-led consortium on Sunday broadcast its first one hour-long radio bulletin and a TV show called "Window on Europe" into the country, containing political and quirky news items and music.

"We need information to say what the EU is about, why our neighbouring countries made the change, why they turned to the EU," Belarusian independent press association head Zhanna Litvina told EUobserver on Monday (27 February).

"It's very important to hear the message from the EU, that the door is not closed to Belarus and there are some perspectives," she added.

Belarus is just three weeks ahead of presidential elections on 19 March, with some opposition leaders calling for a "Denim Revolution" on Ukraine's Orange Revolution model.

The EU buys petrol and textiles from Belarus, but does not maintain minister-level contacts or envisage future accession of Belarus to the union.

Propaganda?

The Sunday radio show at one point called for the resignation of president Lukashenko, Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported.

The ?2 million project has been dubbed "Cold War-type propaganda" by Minsk diplomats in the past, with Ms Litvina warning that "people are tired of propaganda" in Belarus.

"They need balanced information, a forum for discussion. This project should give a forum for discussion, even for those who have completely opposite views," she said.

The EU-funded scheme follows the startup of a similar Polish project called "Radio Reason" last week.

Polish, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian newspapers also published potentially inflammatory satirical cartoons of president Lukashenko on Monday.

And leading Polish MEPs fear that any criticism of Minsk coming with an EU pedigree could be exploited to support the official message that the west is plotting to overthrow the Belarusian government.

EU project starts small

The EU-funded TV and radio shows did not start with a bang.

"I have no idea what it is or where I can see it. Where can we get information about how to see it?" senior opposition campaigner, Jaroslav Romanchuk asked.

Ms Litvina added "While people here [in Brussels] were talking about alternative sources of information, Lukashenko launched four new TV channels."

Outside news, such as US president George Bush meeting the wives of two missing Belarusian men on Monday, trickles into the country, she explained.

But it is either given a negative spin by state media, or has limited circulation on internet sites and via small print runs of independent newspapers distributed largely by hand.

Subversive graffiti, such as the popular slogan "dostal [we're sick of him]", also pops up, but is quickly cleaned away with authors risking jail.

State media make impact

Minsk plans to spend ?61 million on state media in 2006, Ms Litvina said.

National TV paints Belarus as an "island of stability" in a chaotic Europe, showing president Lukashenko as a patron of social projects to whom there is "no logical alternative."

The TV also contains allegories on what happens to bad citizens, she added.

A recent TV schedule started with Belarusian war veterans complaining of outside attacks on the country, followed by a film about Polish spies, then by reports on life inside a Belarusian prison.

A January survey by Bratislava-based NGO Pontis/IVO found that 65 percent of Belarusian respondents see their country as "calm" and 81 percent "appreciate" president Lukashenko's promises of good living standards.

Seventeen percent expect mass protests after the elections, despite the fact that only a third believe the elections will be fair.

Twenty-six percent "fully" support moving Belarus closer to the EU, with another 32 percent supporting pro-EU moves "partly."

"Most people do not expect the election to become a 'watershed event' but rather suppose continuity in their country's development," the study states, adding that pre-election tensions might have influenced responses.

The young, urban pro-EU campaigners also see the numbers as a triumph given the country's "information vacuum."

Source:

http://euobserver.com/9/21006