The Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA ( be, Беларускае Тэлеграфнае Агенцтва, russian: link=no, Белорусское Телеграфное Агентство, БелТА) is the state-owned national
news agency
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire ...
of the
Republic of Belarus
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...
. It operates in
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
* Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
,
Belarusian
Belarusian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Belarus
* Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent
* A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus
* Belarusian language
* Belarusian culture
* Belarusian cuisine
* Byelor ...
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
languages. Since 2018, the director of BELTA is Irina Akulovich.
History
The agency was founded on December 23, 1918. During the Soviet times BelTA cooperated with the
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
(TASS), although it was legally independent of it.
After the USSR ceased to exist in 1991, BelTA has been the national news agency of Belarus. It transmits over a hundred daily reports, and provides information to other news agencies of Commonwealth of Independent States members about the activities of Belarusian officials and organizations in and out of the country.
BelTA has offices in all
regions of Belarus
At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six ''oblasts'' (''voblasts'' or provinces). The city of Minsk, has a special status as the capital of Belarus. Minsk is also the capital of Minsk Region.Minsk.
Criticism
Some observers called BeTA a propaganda outlet.
The BelTA Director-General
Dzmitry Zhuk
Dzmitry Zhuk ( be, Дзмітрый Жук or ''Дзьмітры Жук'') is a Belarusian journalist and media manager. He is the former head of the press service of president Alexander Lukashenko. Since February 2018 Main Editor of the state-ow ...
Nasha Niva
''Nasha Niva'' ( be, Наша Ніва, Naša Niva, lit. "Our field") is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers, founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991. ''Nasha Niva'' became a cultural symbol, due to the newspaper's importance as a ...
, October 11, 2011 According to the EU Council's decision concerning restrictive measures against Belarus following the 2010 election, Dzmitry Zhuk is responsible for ''"relaying state propaganda in the media, which has supported and justified the repression of the democratic opposition and of civil society on December 19, 2010 using falsified information."''Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Belarus EUR-Lex, 2012
Media of Belarus
The mass media in Belarus are mass-media outlets based in Belarus. Television, magazines, and newspapers are operated by state-owned and for-profit corporations and depend on advertising, subscriptions, and other sales-related revenue. The Cons ...