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Lithuanian media heedful of economic ties with Belarus, lackadaisical on Lukashenko’s politics

The plight of the Belarusian independent media has reached record lows, following the authorities’ crackdown on protests over the deteriorating economic situation caused by the meltdown of the Belarusian currency.

Did neighbouring Lithuania react to the reprisals? Did it condemn them? No, it did not. The European Union did.

Following the reprisals, the authoritarian Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, during a five-hour press conference, lashed out at the news outlets that questioned his actions in cracking down the sporadic civil unrest: “I see a lot of hysteria in some Belarusian news media,” he said. “They forget however that they have become influential thanks to my administration. I will not pinpoint them now so as not to boost their ratings, but I will do everything to make this kind of media, which induces hysteria in our population, disappear.”

Lukashenko’s threats recall his government’s warnings against two leading opposition newspapers, Nasha Niva (Our Field) and Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) that were accused of contributing to public disorder by publishing reports on the mass anti-government demonstrations in the aftermath of the Belarusian presidential election in December 2010.

Did the Lithuania’s Parliament or President Dalia Grybauskaitė reprimand Lukashenko for the civil rights violations? Neither did.

Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus

The Belarusian dictator’s accusations against the newspapers are seen as a switch in his stance, as closures of news outlet were up until now almost always justified on the basis of tax or registration violations.

This has allowed Lukashenko to maintain the claim that his government does not censor opposition media. Since 1991, only three Belarusian newspapers have been shut down.

Nasha Niva’s editor Andreij Skurko says that his newspaper has been warned over “violations” three times in one year, which according to Belarusian legislation, constitutes enough ground to close down a news outlet.

“Officially, we do not have state censorship, and our independent newspapers never come out with blank pages. In reality however, the authorities always brandish a tax axe or another constraining tool to muzzle defiant newspapers,” Skurko says.

“Unfortunately, there are awfully many conformist journalists, who have betrayed the principles of journalism ethics and who have no scruples in pleasing the Belarusian authorities. Lukashenko does not need to officially introduce any censorship bureau, as 90 percent of editors are their own harshest censors, in their fear of having their skin peeled off,” asserts Seredic Josif Pavlovic, the publisher and editor of the opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya.

Pending new closures of opposition newspapers, restrictive rules in terms of publication and circulation and Lukashenko’s dictatorial ranting against the independent press – the topics have attracted little, or no attention at all in the mainstream Lithuanian media.

Oh yes, unlike the planned building of a nuclear power plant on the border between the two countries, the Belarusian authorities’ recent limitation on gas export to Lithuania and the meltdown of the Belarusian ruble. Lithuanian media’s interest in Belarus seems to stem out of economic and safety reasons.

“Inadequate and very informal” contacts

Is that enough for two nations that share several hundred years of common history? Is Lithuania’s conformism to be blamed for the lack of more diverse attention toward Belarus?

“Are people being killed in Belarus like in Georgia in 2008, during the bloody standoff between Russia and Georgia? No, they are not. Are the anti-Lukashenko protests engulfing all the country? No, they are not. On the contrary, they are scarce and only attended by few. Are the Lithuanian highest authorities, including our President Grybauskaitė, proactively heeding Belarus’ problems? No, they are not, because they see the EU as having the necessary leverage to influence the developments in Belarus. So how can you expect my editor to find the Belarus’ daily affairs worth a front page coverage?” wonders Arunas Bagdonas, a Vilnius-based freelance journalist.

However, the true reasons for the lack of attention may not be as much of an editorial preference as a matter of Lithuanian politics, reaching as far as the Presidential Palace.

“How can one expect to strike any deeper relationships with Belarus, when our own President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who is primarily in charge of foreign policy, stuns all Belarusian democratic supporters, by asserting that “Lukashenko guarantees stability in the country and limits Russia’s influence in Belarus”? asks Povilas Gylys, Lithuania’s former Minister for Foreign Affairs and a prominent economist and professor at Vilnius University. “The president’s stance definitely sets certain tunes in Lithuania’s political landscape,” Gylys comments.

Grybauskaitė’s notorious statement in a closed-door meeting with EU ambassadors at the end of 2010, just before the presidential election in Belarus, was disclosed by Reuters and drew confusion and silent disappointment among Lithuania’s right-wing political spectrum, which is generally seen as the president’s pillar of support, and of the Belarusian opposition alike.

Earlier, the Lithuanian head-of-state had chimed in with the demands of other EU leaders urging Lukashenko to hold a democratic presidential election.

“Speaking of the current relationship between Lithuania and Belarus, most high-ranking Lithuanian politicians, obviously, are not as much concerned about the crackdowns as about the planned building of a nuclear power plant in Belarus’ Astrav region, just 50 kilometers away from Vilnius. This is what interests our policy-makers and media the most. I see much deliberate apathy in our approach to the political processes in Belarus, which is very handy for Lukashenko, who is dubbed the last dictator of Europe,” Gylys says. Lithuania’s parliamentary efforts to engage deeper contacts with Belarusian authorities are, in his view, “inadequate and very informal.”

Justinas Karosas, the head of the Lithuanian parliamentary group “For a democratic Belarus”, disagrees with Gylys: “How can one expect us to develop the collaboration extensively, if the Belarusian Parliament, according to the European Union, is illegitimate? If we follow the lines of the EU policy, we, Lithuanian parliamentarians, are not supposed to have even slightest connection with Minsk,” Karosas says. “With Grybauskaitė in power, it is obvious that Lithuania has gone from an exporter of democracy to an exporter of goods, which, I suppose, is not a bad thing. I think Lithuanian and Belarusian relationships need a fresh push, and Lithuanian media is in a position to spur it,” Karosas emphasises.

Justinas Karosas, head of the Lithuanian parliamentary group “For a democratic Belarus”

Lackadaisical efforts?

Birute Vesaite, another member of the parliamentary group, notes that the Belarusian opposition is “very fragmented and scattered.”  “Some opposition members live abroad, some in Belarus and some are imprisoned. In order to gain more influence at home and abroad, Belarusians ought to try to unite their opposition forces and speak with one voice,” she argues.

Vesaite does not blame Lithuanian journalists for their often lackadaisical efforts in covering the situation in Belarus. “Not journalists, but policy-makers need to bring some changes in the relationship. I am sure journalists will pick up the thread,” Vesaite said.

Dainius Radzevicius, chairman of Lithuania’s Journalists Union, disagrees that Lithuania’s mainstream media does not address the Belarusian issues sufficiently.

“It is up to each individual editor to decide whether the events in Belarus are worth receiving attention, as we live in a free country where publishers and editors decide what to cover and what not to cover,” Radzevicius says, emphasising that the Union has done “a lot” to encourage the democratic movements in the neighbouring country.

“Our Union, along with EU institutions, has recently completed a five-year project aimed to promote the democratisation of Belarusian media. The European Humanities University, a private institution banished from Belarus by President Alexander Lukashenko and funded largely by European educational foundations and national budgets, operates in Vilnius,” Radzevicius says.

 

 

Tags: alexander lukashenko, belarus, coverage, dalia grybauskaitė, independent press, lithuania,

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