Top news on CNN — no news on EuroNews — or in Deutschland
Finally, Belarus made it to the top news on CNN International, both on TV and on their website Belarus elections and protesters on October square in Minsk were their #1 top news for several hours this morning.
Here are the screen shots:
CNN did a great job. This looked so good on TV. And the anchor’s text was right to the point.
On the other hand, the coverage of EuroNews was inadequate. It was just a small news item, and besides, the Russian language version was completely screwed up. In English, the anchor said “hundreds of protesters stayed overnight on the main Minsk square in the tents”, but in Russian this part was omitted (!). There was not a single mention of protesters in the Russian version of this EuroNews report.
And this is not the first time I see that happening. Very often when EuroNews reports about Belarus, the Russian language edition is either censored or distorted.
German reaction is also surprising.
Yesterday there was a special EU meeting about Belarus situation.
Poland proposed to ban many more hundreds of Belarusan officials involved in falsification of the vote. In fact, Poland said they’ll do it unilaterally, even if other EU members won’t join them.
Lithuania, Slovakia and Czech Republic also called for much tougher measures against Lukashenka and much more support for Belarusian people.
German foreign minister disagreed and said that there should be a dialog with Alexander Lukashenka (!)
No doubt, White Holland lives on.
More about the German position in this blog:
March 21st, 2006 at 8:36 pm
What else can the civilized world do?
March 21st, 2006 at 8:40 pm
You are writing on behalf of the civilized world, offering some help? ;))
March 21st, 2006 at 9:24 pm
US calls on Belarus to hold new election
From Boston.com:
The United States called for a new vote and the European Union threatened sanctions on Belarus, where thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the capital for a second night yesterday to protest President Alexander LukashenkoR…
March 21st, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Associated Press offered pretty good coverage on Monday, but it’s hard to know how much of it was used in American newspapers.
The Wall Street Journal had an op-ed piece on Tuesday and lengthy story Tuesday. Good report led off The Economist with a pre-election story.
Still, there’s a real sense that this is not registering on most peoples’ radar in the West.
This is how the Wall Street Journal piece begins: “Who will cry, after yesterday’s fiasco of a presidential election, for Belarus? More to the point, who can find this nation of 10 million (mostly delightful) Slavic souls without a peek at a map? Safe to say, not many, which is good news for Alexander Lukashenko’s career plans.”
Keep up the good work.
March 21st, 2006 at 11:14 pm
Hardly suprising the censorship on Russian EuroNews. The state-owned Channel 1 has a stake in the channel.
March 22nd, 2006 at 1:05 am
What can we do? How can we spread the word?
March 22nd, 2006 at 1:13 am
Yes, exactly. “Spreading the word” is probably the most important thing right now. We need adequate media support both inside and outside of the country. Of course, inside the country every media outlet is under totalitarian control. But abroad…
March 22nd, 2006 at 2:37 am
Even so, abraod — how do we go about this? There needs to be a way to get people outside of Belarus talking about this and together figuring out a way that everyone can help. Obviously the internet is the quickest way to connect people. Are there places were action is being discussed?
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:48 am
“Yes, exactly. “Spreading the word” is probably the most important thing right now.”
Then what we can do we must do.
I see some familiar names here The Uncooperative Blogger for one.
March 22nd, 2006 at 10:49 am
well, just a remark… while EU talks about condemning Lukashenko, its structural funds (handled under the TACIS program) are being channelled to the BRSM (a propagandist Lukashenko-sponsored organization) through numerous grants. Europe is helping to build and support this absurd regime and suffocate our initiatives. I couldn’t believe my ears when I found out about this!!!
March 22nd, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Thats rediculous and so frustrating…can you link a news source that talks about this? I understand that the EU is in a difficult place and doesn’t want to “make enemies” with Russia, but it backing Lukashenko is completely unacceptable.
March 22nd, 2006 at 2:50 pm
EU Observer. Also RFE/RL:
Belarus: EU Divided On Retaliation For Flawed Poll
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/3/52F7FC53-6DC1-47A2-A98E-B7B17A4230A3.html
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:14 pm
nope, I do not have any links or reports, I found out about this while working for a certain NGO in Hrodna. We lost in a grant contest to the afore-mentioned BRSM.
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:16 pm
I am (pleasantly) surprised at how much some of this latest news in Belarus has been carried by American newspapers. I live in a small Southern college town in the USA, and the local newspaper (not known for its coverage of international news) has carried wire articles about what’s happening in Minsk for the past few days. Unfortunately, most Americans don’t know much, if anything, about Belarus.
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Thanks to some Dutch politicians of the European Parliament there will be a debate about the situation in Belarus.
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:36 am
I’ve translate a piece of your article in my italian blog about freedom
Thank you for imformation about EuroNews… it’s orrible!!
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:16 am
SaveTheRabbit.Net: Wonderful. Thank you!
October 22nd, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Dear br23, and how about foreign policy? Could you say something about Belarus’ foreign policy activity and media coverage. Do you have any comments on activity of Ministry of foreign affairs. I work on research about modern foreign policy communications in post-Soviet countries. Hello from Ukraine, Rivne ;)))
February 4th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Thanks for sharing