Reporters, Living Dangerously, Take It Personally

Michael Hedges August 17, 2020 - Follow on Twitter

Some authoritarian leaders are quite clever, some not so much. The clever ones have learned how to take control of the news flow, often by eliminating the critics. The very clever allow a few outlets of opposing views to remain for largely cosmetic reasons. Cutting off the internet no longer succeeds as the digital savvy know all the tricks. The less clever are even jumping back to centuries past to cut off postal delivery service. But when all else fails, dictators will resort to the tried and true: batons and bullets. It’s an old movie.

Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) employees appeared at the state broadcaster’s Minsk headquarters late Friday afternoon (August 14) for an impromptu meeting with executives and high-level government officials, including speaker of the upper chamber of parliament Natalia Kochanova. Rumors swirled on social media through the day about BTRC employees planning a walk-out. Some came to the meeting with their children.

Ms Kochanova began by “reminding” the assembled BTRC employees that president Lukashenko had won 80% of the August 9 vote and warned the BTRC employees not to “rock the boat,” reported independent news portal tut.by (August 14). Then came the less-than-idle threat: “If you rattle the situation today, you simply will not get out of it tomorrow. You will not leave. Believe me!”

Earlier in the week more than a dozen BTRC workers walked off the job, including high profile news anchor Tatiana Borodkina, over coverage of the protests, the riot police and, not to be forgotten, the dodgy election result. “There will be no result from this meeting,” said Belarus 1 and Belarus 3 television channels director Natalia Bibikova. “We plan to go on strike on Monday (August 17) so that the TV channel would just stand up. Let them show old movies.”

Yes, tut.by is back online, as are other news and social media providers. Belarusian authorities first slowed internet access during the final days of the election campaign. As protests broke out after results were announced mobile phone and web access ended. By Thursday (August 13) most most online and mobile services were restored. Suggestions were offered that Belarusian authorities found themselves without communication access and decided to restore services generally as more robust censorship solutions were not available.

The internet and mobile phone disruption did not completely curtail information and communication. As in many places where authorities have played fast and loose with access people in Belarus have learned the lessons. This is not 1995. Belarusians know and use virtual private networks (VPN), Telegram Messenger, too.

These newer technical achievements, including satellite connections, benefitted reporting by foreign news outlets. At first they came from the Baltics, Poland, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, all neighbors of Belarus, to cover the presidential election. The subject shifted abruptly, reports, text and video, flying.

Reporters and - in particular - photojournalists found themselves rounded up by the notorious security service. Russian reporter for news portal znak.com Nikita Telizhenko was picked off the street for taking photos with his mobile phone. For 16 hours he witnessed - and experienced - abuse and beatings at the hands of riot police at the Minsk police station, first, then at a prison. When the security services discovered his Russian nationality he was released and removed to the border. Several reporters from Russian state media outlets, including RT and Sputnik, were detained, beaten and quickly deported. Three BBC Russian TV crew members were deported to Russia.

All reporters have been treated harshly, but Belarusians in particular. Independent news outlet Nasha Niva reporter Natalia Lubneuskaya was shot in the leg by a rubber bullet round fired by “men in camouflage.” At least five tut.by reporters have been detained. By Tuesday (August 11) the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) documented 55 journalists detained. The BAJ website remained blocked in Belarus, however its Telegram channel remains accessible.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Belarus

• Hot Topics - Media and Election Campaigns

• Hot Topics - Press/Media Freedom