Andrei Bastunets: By turning Internet portals into mass media the state exerts pressure

According to the lawyer from BAJ, the proposal to give Internet resources the status of Mass Media means that the state continues spreading control over the media-sphere in Belarus.

Most influential Belarusian Internet resources may become mass media, Dzmitry Shadko, Deputy Minister of Information has said. A work group of representatives of “interested departments” has been created, Euroradio reports his words. "We suggest adding a number of changes to the Law on Mass Media to make the most popular resources mass media so that they can bear responsibility for distributing any kind of information and could be deprived of their registration if necessary,” – the Deputy Minister said.

Andrei Bastunets, the lawyer of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), commented the news to the EuroBelarus Information Service.

- If we consider the situation with the policy of the Belarusan government towards Media, we can definitely say that repressions out of line with the international legislation are spread, - Andrei Bastunets said. – On the one hand, legalization of journalists becomes possible for a registered Internet-portal, i.e. to issue a certificate and accredit them. On the other hand, in accordance with the law, such Media have to appoint editors with higher education and no less than a five-year working experience in executive position.

According to Bastunets, suggested changes correspond to the policy of exerting pressure on Media-market, “roughly speaking, it is an attempt to spread control over relatively free Internet-Media”.