"Idiotism" of two Pravda correspondents saved Belarusian Popular Front
The former editor of Svobodnye Novosti newspaper, Ales Ulicionak, told us a story about his article covering the 1st congress of the Belarusian Popular Front. Back then in 1989, Ulicionak worked as a staff correspondent in Belarus for Pravda newspaper, the major mouthpiece of the Soviet Communist Party.
Ales Ulicionak: “I was covering the 1st congress of the Belarusian Popular Fronr from Vilnius, Lithuania. My colleague, Aliaksandr Simurov, who also worked for Pravda, wrote a report from Minsk. While the party leadership in Belarus was calling to suppress the Belarusian Popular Front, all of them were stopped by this publication in Pravda. Then they started guessing whether it was approved by Moscow or it was just an idiotism of two Belarus correspondents.
The story sent a lot of frenzy. Despite the fact that Belarus was then run by a very despotic political leadership, the Popular Front was not repressed. I am not saying that we thus saved this organization. But it produced a huge influence on the further development of the Front, which later became a very influential political force. Definitely, this meant a lot”.
The founder and the former editor of the Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta (BDG), Piotr Martsev, did not recalled any of his articles. Yet he would not deny the influence of his work on the development of society in this country.
Piotr Martsev: “Every year, I write a lot of articles, making forecasts for the year to come. I cannot say whether these materials produce influence or do not affect the society at all. But every time, my forecasts prove true. It means they influence somehow?
I can only assume that the people that read them and trust them can somehow orient themselves in their lives, work and business. I was told that BDG influenced greatly the development of business and politics in Belarus. But I would not single out any particular article”.
Another former editor of BDG and currently the deputy chief editor of Narodnaya Volya, Svetlana Kalinkina, recalled a story that changed the protocol of the meeting by the head of the state with the local authorities.
Svetlana Kalinkina: “It was in early spring of 2000 or 2001. We learned that Alexander Lukashenka was set to go to Saligorsk to appoint Andrej Bashura as a new general director of Belaruskalij. Our newspaper ran a story in which we described how Saligorsk had been preparing for that visit.
We wrote that the birch-trees were painted in white along the road Lukashenka was supposed to ride from his helicopter pad. We wrote that the land was painted in green as if the grass was growing. Thus, we advertised this visit which was supposed to end with the appointment of Bashura. Eventually, Lukashenka did not appoint him the, although it had bee 100 percent confirmed.
After that article and that visit to Saligorsk, I have never heard of anything like this happening again ahed of Lukashenka's visit. He still likes to travel around show-off villages, but they stopped painting the soil and trees at least”.
The chief editor of Narodnaya Volya, Joseph Siaredzich, also recalled his article that he wrote back in the Soviet times for the Selskaya Zhizn (Rural Life) newspaper.
Joseph Siaredzich: “That article was discussed at the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and personally by the then party leader in Belarus Piotr Masherov. He draw several serious conclusions from that story. Several weeks after, one of the party top officials in Belarus, Viktar Shavialiukha was sent off from this country.
The story wrote about corruption and office abuse by this official, who was making things look like everything was okay with our agriculture.
It seems that even in the Soviet times the party leadership responded better to the criticism of the press than the current authorities in Belarus”.
The deputy chief editor of Belgazeta, Viktar Matcinovich has gone even farther than Joseph Siaredzich. He says that the press in this country does not influence anything and nobody listens to the views of journalists.
Viktar Marcinovich: “The main Belarusian tendency is as follows: you write a story which is very popular with readers, but it does not influence on the leadership or the opposition to take decisions. Belarus is a country where the press is not the fourth estate either for the government or the opposition. The status of the fourth estate in Belarus only allows "profit-making" as if you represent this fourth estate indeed”.
