Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009europe and central asia: belarusThe Minsk-based Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) said that by lateyear about 45 percent of the nation’s media outlets, many of them entertainmentbased,had successfully obtained registration. The law required all outlets to obtainnew registration within a year of its inception on February 8.Korol told CPJ that authorities had also backed away from explicit repressivetactics—arrests, newsrooms raids, equipment confiscation, and exorbitant fines—that they had heavily relied on in past years. The government did not immediatelyapply the new media law to online publications, as advocates had feared, and didnot block domestic access to pro-opposition Web sites. But the regime did notremove its yoke from the independent media, Korol and others noted.Andrei Bastunets, a legal analyst for BAJ, told CPJ that the regime’s tacticschanged in the fall, and the press freedom climate again deteriorated. The InformationMinistry unexpectedly amended registration requirements in Septemberby imposing experience and educational requirements for top editorialstaff and barring outlets from using an editor’s home as an official address,Bastunets said. (Many independent newspapers, small and with few resources,are based in editors’ homes.) After these changes, several independent newspapers—MahilyouskiChas, Soligorsk Plyus, Novaya Gazeta Bobruiska, PrefektPlyus, and Marinahorskaya Hazeta among them—saw their applications forregistration denied.Hundreds of other media outlets were waiting in late year for word on theirregistration applications, and advocates feared the hardening of the government’stone signaled the potential for numerous denials.The EU imposed travel and financial sanctions against Belarussian officialsin 2006 in response to the regime’s crackdown on opposition activists and journalists.The travel ban was suspended in October 2008 by the EU, which then extendedthe suspension throughout 2009. The EU said it was pursuing a policy ofengagement; analysts noted that European diplomats were concerned about Russianinfluence on the former Soviet state. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU externalrelations commissioner, told reporters in Minsk that government progress on democracyand human rights issues—including the release of political prisoners—had prompted the EU to ease the sanctions. Still, Lukashenko’s regime had notdemonstrated full respect for press freedom or allowed civil society activists towork without fear of reprisal, Ferrero-Waldner told the U.S. government-fundedRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.International press freedom advocates—including the International Federationof Journalists, Index on Censorship, and the Open Society Institute—concluded after a September fact-finding mission that authorities continued torely on “a number of repressive provisions that can be used to silence critical,oppositional, or alternative voices.” In their post-mission report, titled “For Freeand Fair Media in Belarus,” the groups said press freedom was threatened by thestate’s monopoly on newspaper distribution, the regular denial of accreditationto foreign outlets and their local reporters, and tax and economic policies thatfavor state media. BAJ noted that tax exemptions for state media gave them asignificant competitive advantage over private outlets.State-controlled distributors Soyuzpechat and Belpochta continued toblacklist 13 independent newspapers, including the prominent publications NovyChas, Tovarishch, Vitebsky Kuryer, and Gazeta Slonimskaya, local and internationalmedia experts said. Authorities also harassed private businesses and detained volunteerswho sought to circulate the blacklisted publications, CPJ research found.The state-controlled distributors claimed they were acting within the law by refusingto sign service agreements with independent media outlets, Korol said.Their position was backed by Natalya Petkevich, a senior administration officialwho said the government would not force the distributors to carry independentnewspapers in their catalogues and kiosks.Internet penetration in the country reached 30 percent, the state news agencyBelTA reported in March, citing government statistics. This greater access,coupled with the poor climate for the traditional press, led most embattled independentand pro-opposition media to establish themselves on the Web, winningloyal audiences both inside the country and abroad, CPJ research shows. Whilethe government did not exercise any notable online censorship in 2009, its ownershipof the country’s sole Internet service provider, Beltelekom, gives it the abilityto block access to critical publications.Authorities were sensitive to critical coverage originating from Poland-basedbroadcasters, leading them to target the outlets for obstruction. Authorities barredPoland-based Radio Racyja and satellite television channel Belsat from openingoffices in the country, and denied credentials to their reporters. In November,after a prolonged application process, the Poland-based European Radio for Belaruswon permission to open a bureau for one year; the Belarusian governmentapproved the permit just as it was undergoing a periodic EU review. The ForeignMinistry denied an entry visa to Belsat Director Agnieszka Romaszewska, whoplanned to attend an international conference organized by the German Embassyin Minsk. According to the local press, the Foreign Ministry did not provide Romaszewskawith an explanation.In March, the Information Ministry refused to renew accreditation to AndrzejPoczobut, a local correspondent for Poland’s largest daily, Gazeta Wyborcza.Authorities told Poczobut his application had been denied because of a seriesof articles critical of the Lukashenko administration. Poczobut’s articles covereda police fingerprinting initiative; the deportation of three Polish Catholicpriests; and criminal lawsuits filed against recently released political prisoners.172173