Belarus 1 ( be, Беларусь 1) is a state-owned television channel in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. It is the oldest television channel in the country. The channel is on air from 6:00 am to 2:00 am on the next day, in contrast with most public channels in Europe, which broadcast 24-hour programming. It is used to spread

propaganda in Belarus Propaganda in Belarus is the practice of state directed communication in order to promote patriotism and acceptance of Lukashenko's rule. Propaganda is distributed through state media, such as Belarus-1, which are owned by Belteleradiocompany, but ...

History

The channel was launched on 1 January 1956, as the Belarusian branch of the

Soviet Central Television The Central Television of the USSR (russian: Центральное телевидение СССР, translit=Tsentral'noye televideniye SSSR; abbr. CT USSR .html" ;"title="/nowiki>">/nowiki>/nowiki>) was the state television broadcaster of the ...

, after months of preparation. The first spoken words were Good evening! Happy New Year. Today, we start our test run. spoken by Tamara Bastun. Broadcasts were initially running for 2–3 hours every evening on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Censorship and propaganda

International experts and the

Belarusian democracy movement The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukash ...

have traditionally called state television one of the most important propaganda tools of Lukashenko's regime. It is accused of

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...

, propaganda of

political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereb ...

election manipulation Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

, and insulting critics of the regime. Employees and top managers of state television companies, including Belteleradiocompany, which owns Belarus 1, have been repeatedly put in the EU-led

list of people and organizations sanctioned in relation to human rights violations in Belarus Since the 1990s, Belarus has been actively criticized by the United States, the European Union, the OSCE and the United Nations for Human rights in Belarus, human rights violations and electoral fraud. Various Belarusian officials, businesspeople ...

, have been included in the

Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

, the sanction lists of the United Kingdom,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. According to a journalist who left the channel during the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests in August 2020, Belarus 1 was severely censored. For example, there was a list of people whose names could not be mentioned in the news, which included opposition politicians, there was a blacklist of economists and political scientists, who could not be asked for comments, the use of the words "

Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

," "

cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...

," "

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

" was prohibited. TV news unit journalist Alyaksandr Luchonak, who also resigned in protest of propaganda, also confirmed the existence of censorship.

References

External links

Official English website
Television stations in Belarus Television channels and stations established in 1956 Mass media in Minsk 1956 establishments in Belarus {{Belarus-media-stub