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 ...
.
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 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,
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
,
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.
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," "
cult of personality," "
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