(This report is an extract from a study by the European Institute for the Media, “The Belarussian Presidential Elections.” For the full study, send a fax to 49-211-9010456 (Dusseldorf). Professor Bernd-Peter Lange was Project Director; Oloph Hansen was the monitor; Andrew Palmer, projects manager of the European Institute for the Media’s East-West Cooperation Program was the editor, and Dr. Alexei Pankin was the Project Manager.
I. THE PRESS
In June 1994, the print media market was composed
of 662 editions, of which 488 were newspapers, 146 were magazines and 28
were bulletins. The Ministry of Culture and Press has divided types
of ownership into the following 14 categories:
| Ownership Type | Number of Editions | |
| 1. | Supreme Soviet | |
| 2. | Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers | 2 |
| 3. | Council of Ministers and co-establishers | 8 |
| 4. | Government ministries and departments | 38 |
| 5. | People’s Deputies’ Councils | 137 |
| 6. | State enterprises and organizations | 80 |
| 7. | Scientific Institutions, the Academy of Sciences | 34 |
| 8. | Various associations, firms, cooperatives | 139 |
| 9. | Editorial staff members | 51 |
| 10. | Religious organisations | 17 |
| 11. | Citizens | 76 |
| 12. | Social organizations | 74 |
| 13. | Social organizations, government institutions, commercial firms | 5 |
| 14. | Foreign and joint ventures | 1 |
An increasing number of papers have been getting economic support from the government. In July 1994, 45 papers were subsidised by the government in order to keep prices low and to help some rather big papers to survive. Deputy Minister of Culture and Press Ivan Karenda claimed in a taped interview with the team that the papers were subsidised in the interests of the readers: “The point is that the transition to the market economy brought the majority of the newspapers to the brink. It is obvious that without help from the government they will go bankrupt. This help is given firstly to the old newspapers with large circulations of 500,000 - 600,000. The state and the government have to take the interests of the readers into account. These papers are the mass circulation newspapers established by the Supreme Soviet or the Council of Ministers.”
Deputy Minister Karenda stressed that only 8 of the 45 subsidised papers are owned by the government and that not all the subsidised papers “are ready to please the government or to support its policy absolutely. The paper of Belarussian intellectuals, Literature and Art, takes an anti-government position and constantly criticise it. The same can be said for Culture and some other periodicals.”
On the other hand, Prime Minister Kebich has said: “The government supports newspapers and magazines which have taken the right stand. Why should we support a newspaper or magazine which is trying to undermine the stability of the country? I will support all the press, with the exception of those publications which speak against the government.” (Belaruskaya Niva, June 9, 1992). Certainly, out to the 6.6 billion (thousand million) Belarussian rouble given out in toto to newspapers and magazines in June 1994, the largest single subsidies were directed at the more widely-read state-owned papers. The system of subsidy distribution, whereby the money is only given out month-by-month, underpins the ability of the state to put Kebich’s words into actions.
A closer look at the most important papers—the dailies, with distribution throughout the republic—gives an impression of governmental influence over the print media:
Narodnaya Gazeta (circulation 606,000), founded by the Supreme Council in 1990. As an organ of the Parliament, which itself consist of various groups, the paper is not a megaphone for the government. On the contrary, it is criticised by the conservative majority in Parliament for paying too much attention to the opposition. The editor-in-chief Iosif Siaredich had to defend his paper in a Parliamentary hearing over three days in the beginning of 1994. His dismissal was expected, but he managed to survive. The paper’s initial circulation was 200.000, in 1991 it grew to 300.000, and it has now surpassed its competitors and is the biggest newspaper in Belarus. In 1994 it became self-sufficient. The staff on the paper have tried to become its sole founder, but were not given the opportunity by the Parliament. The paper was neutral in the election campaign.
Sovietskaya Belarus (420,000) used to be the biggest paper in Belarus. It used to be a paper of the Communist Party and was taken over by the Council of Ministers in 1991. It is subsidised by the government, and endorsed Prime Minister Kebich in the first round of the election campaign.
Zviazda (172.000) was founded as early as 1917 by the Bolsheviks and later became a paper of the Communist Party. Since 1991, the founders have been the Supreme Soviet, the Council of Ministers and staff journalists. It is progovernmental, subsidised by the government, and supported Prime Minister Kebich strongly in the first round of the election campaign.
Belaruskays Niva (138.000) was founded in 1921. It is owned by the Council of Ministers and subsidised by the government. It too supported the candidacy of Kebich during the first round of elections.
Respublika (143.000) was founded in 1991 by the Council of Ministers. It is subsidised by the government and supported Kebich in the first round of the election campaign.
Znamia Yunosti (85.000) was founded by the Communist Youth organization Komsomol in 1938 and in 1991 was taken over by the Council of Ministers and staff ministry. The paper receives state subzidies and is close to the government. It supported Prime Minister Kebich in the first round.
Vo Slavu Reodiny (20.000) was founded in 1921 by the Ministry of Defence and is financed by the ministry. It is pro-government and endorsed Prim Minister Kebich in the election campaign.
Chyrvonaya Zmiena (50,000) was founded in 1921 and is today owned by the Belarussian Union of Youth and staff journalists. It is subsidised by the government, but took a more neutral standpoint in the election campaign.
Of the eight daily national papers, therefore, six are owned by the government and seven are dependent on subsidies. Although the weekly Svaboda attracts 30,000 readers and takes a critical stance to the government, Belraus has no daily private papers and no daily paper in opposition to the government. A rudimentary division of the papers above during the first round of the campaign gives a daily circulation of 978,000 copies of pro-governmental newspapers, and a daily circulation of 650,000 copies of politically neutral newspapers. The framework of the print media market relies on state structures. Registration, printing and distribution are all monopolized by the state at a national level.
Circumnavigation of these problems is made improbable for most publications by the economic situation in Belarus. The print media suffers from the traditional difficulties of post-Communist media in the former Soviet Union - inflation which leads to burgeoning costs and devalues subscription revenues; an inadequate advertising market; paper which needs to be bought from abroad at high prices; the impossibility of transferring increased expenses onto the consumer; and so on. Newspapers do supplement their income by commercial activities, but there is no prospect of alternative distribution networks or printing houses being established in the near future, nor of state subsidies becoming less vital to survival.
During the election campaign, one paper did succumb to these pressures. The Communist paper My i Vremia, which was printed normally three times a week, was unable to reach its readers after June 1, 1994. In an interview the editor-in-chief and Secretary of the Communist Party Victor Chikin claimed that the paper had no economic support from the government and that is was impossible for them to buy the paper they required. He said “We have money but it is impossible to buy paper in Russia on Belarussian money and the prices of commercial structures are crazy.”
At the level of the individual, the fixed salary for journalists from 12 dollars a month in the countryside to 25-30 dollars a month in the bigger papers in Minsk (the average wage is commonly reckoned at about 20-25 dollars a month). In addition to the fixed salary, journalists are paid for published articles. A good and hard-working journalist can therefore earn 50 dollars a month or more. It was noticeable to the team that, in contrast to its experiences elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, there was little sign of the purchase of journalists and the commercialization of editorial space. At the same time, the fact that journalistic staff were co-founders of some of the papers which did not perform creditably in the election campaign raised questions about the integrity of the journalists concerned.
II. BROADCASTING
Out of the total number of registered television and radio stations, 16 are founded by the government (two with foreign partners), 104 by non-state small enterprises and joint stock companies, 27 by public organizations, 17 by private persons, and 19 by legislative bodies. The number of stations which are actually broadcasting is much lower.
Still dominant on the television landscape is the state-owned Belarussian television, and to an even greater extent, the Russian channels.
The state-owned television operates on one channel which covers the whole country and parts of neighbouring nations, where some Belarussians live. 98.5 percent of the Belarussian population (95.6 in the countryside) can receive the national channel. Three Russian channels are also available: Ostakino reaches 96.3 percent (86.1), RTR 74.2 percent (41.5) St. Petersburg 59.2 percent (23).
Besides these big networks, there are a lot of new small privately-owned television stations, which mostly broadcast entertainment from aborad. Some have only a tiny informational output. There is no legal barrier to the creation of a private network with a common national news service, but existing stations are too small and the advertising market too undeveloped for this to be a realistic short-term prospect.
The national radio is also state-owned and tied to the government. It broadcasts on three channels. A few private radio stations also operate.
Audience figures for radio and television are uncertain. Although both state television (partially) and private radio and television (wholly) are financed by advertising revenues, no daily and detailed audience surveys are made.
Belarussian national television has to compete on comparatively small resources with the Russian channels and their bigger resources and much more diversified and popular programming. This is the same problem which the French-language national public service broadcaster in southern Belgium faces in its competition with the French channels.
When asked which channel they prefer, Belarussians were 78.8 percent against and 31.8 percent in favour of Belarussian television. These figures don’t tell us anything about viewing habits. The pattern in the West is often that the audience watches entertainment from foreign channels (by satellite or by signals from a neighbouring country) but that the national television is strong for local and national news. State television itself claims that 70 percent of the population watches some of its news programming every day, but this figure seems rather high considering the competition from Russian channels. More alarming for Belarussian television are the November 1993 surveys which say that the number of people who regularly watch Belarussioan television had fallen from 68.6 percent to 38.1 percent (and for radio, from 64.4 to 35.1 percent).
Television
The national television company is owned by the state and is known as the State Committee on Television and Radio. Re-organization in 1992 tied national television and radio closer to the government. The Chairman of the State Committee is Alexander Stoliarov, who is ex officio also a minister in the Prime Minster’s cabinet. Formerly, he was put forward by the Government and appointed by the Parliament, but he is now appointed by the Prime Minister. Mr. Stoliarov himself ackownledges the obligations which this close link to the Prime Minister creates.
The state-owned television has more than 2.000 employees and broadcasts about 16 hours per day (four hours of which is their own production time). The rest consists of reruns and programmes bought from aboard or from producers in Belarus. It has five local stations producing about one hour per day and broadcasting both locally and nationally. These stations are in Vitebsk, Gomel, Mogilev, Brest, and Grodno. State television is financed by the government, although about five percent of its revenue comes from advertising.
In the autumn of 1993, the Belarussian Independent Television Association (BITA) was established. It represents the only national organization which challenges the state monopoly over television. It has nearly 30 members and in 1994 had about 75 minutes of airtime on Channel 8, which were taken up by the broadcasts of four non-state television stations (MM4, RAMOS, MKT and TMK), and also showed a 20 minute programme of crime news Stop-Kadr on state television. Channel 8 offers its viewers a 25 minute newscast three times a week, and a special local news edition twice a week as well as other programmes of their own production.
Ostensibly for reasons of broadcasting quality, Channel 8 had been shut down by the government for almost a year and when it came back on air in late 1993, the special Broadcasting Provisions had a clause obligating independent television companies which had been allowed to broadcast to “refrain from organizing political programmes and allowing political parties, movements and parliamentary factions on the air along with any kind of official structures and authorities”. It is generally believed that the real reason behind the closure of the channel was the fact that it had become a genuine alternative to state broadcasting, and that its progamme Zercalo had broadcast an interview debating economic development and other changes in the former Soviet Union. During the election campaign, Channel 8 did give airtime to the candidates, but only after a decision of the Central Election Commission and without any assessment or comment from journalists.
Radio
State-owned radio is also part of the State Committee on Television and Radio. It is the only national radio broadcaster in the republic and it carries local programming in the main cities outside Minsk. It broadcasts on three channels, one of which is distributed in many cities over a wire net. The broadcasting time is about 18 hours daily and besides Belarus, the broadcasting area also covers parts of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia.
The reorganization of state broadcasting into the State Committee on Television and Radio has been accompanied by a shake-up in internal structures. The most controversial victim of this process was the Belarussion Youth radio programme, which had gained a reputation for giving airtime to a variety of political views. Staff on the programme were informed that it would no longer be broadcast and were offered work on another channel. Protests were voiced, but without impact, and the journalists in question have now established a newspaper bearing the name of the axed programme. Compared with private television, surprisingly few private radio stations have started up. One of the most popular is Radio-Roks-Minsk which is registered in Moscow and broadcasts programmes from Moscow. Another private station in Minsk is BA, which has US family Radio and the Belarussian Communications Ministry among its founders.
Radio Liberty also broadcasts throughout Belarus.
When US President Bill Clinton visited Belarus in spring 1994, he declared
that Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe would shut down by the year 1995,
because of diminishing influence and reduced demand. This prompted
a letter from the leaders of several political parties and movements to
US officials arguing that Radio Liberty is still important. The letter
states that “according to the data of the sociological survey carried out
in Belarus in 1992, almost 75% of the adult population of the Republic
know about the existence of Radio Liberty and 30% of the citizens listen
to its broadcasts with differing regularity.” The decision has, to
our knowledge, been revoked and radio Liberty’s broadcasting will continue
until 1999.