Belarusian Telegraph Agency Explained

Belarusian Telegraph Agency
Native Name:Беларускае тэлеграфнае агенцтва
Native Name Lang:be
Type:State media
Location:Minsk, Belarus
Products:Wire service
Owner:Government of Belarus

The Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA (Belarusian: Беларускае Тэлеграфнае Агенцтва, Russian: link=no|Белорусское Телеграфное Агентство, БелТА) is the state-owned national news agency of the Republic of Belarus. It operates in Russian, Belarusian, English, German, Spanish, Polish, and Chinese languages.[1] Since 2018, the director of BELTA is Irina Akulovich.[2]

History

The agency was founded on December 23, 1918. During the Soviet times BelTA cooperated with the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (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, as well as abroad. The main office is in Minsk.

Criticism

Some observers called BelTA a propaganda outlet.[3] [4] [5]

The BelTA Director-General Dzmitry Zhuk was banned from entering the European Union between 2011 and 2016 as part of the EU's sanctions against Belarus following what the EU describes as a crackdown of opposition protests after the 2010 presidential election.[6] 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."[7]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://eng.belta.by/ BELTA website
  2. Web site: New director general introduced to BelTA’s staff Press releases, Belarus Belarus.by. www.belarus.by. 2019-12-04.
  3. Web site: Григорська . Ніна . 2021-05-31 . Справа TUT.BY: головній редакторці видання загрожує до 7 років в’язниці . https://web.archive.org/web/20211003150015/https://nv.ua/ukr/world/countries/sprava-tut-by-zatrimano-15-spivrobitnikiv-redakciji-golovredu-zagrozhuye-do-7-rokiv-ostanni-novini-50163165.html . 2021-10-03 . 2021-10-02 . . uk . Державний пропагандистський ресурс БелТА повідомив....
  4. Web site: Стороженко . Станислав . 2021-05-24 . Беларусь и Латвия обоюдно выслали всех дипломатов . https://archive.today/20211003202545/https://news.liga.net/world/news/belarus-vysylaet-vse-posolstvo-latvii-iz-strany-ostavyat-tolko-odnogo-sotrudnika . 2021-10-03 . 2021-10-02 . ЛІГА.net . ru . ... передает пропагандистское агентство БелТА..
  5. Web site: Meisner . Matthias . 2014-04-10 . Wie das Lukaschenko-Regime die CDU vorführte . live . https://archive.today/20211002233539/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/delegation-aus-weissrussland-im-bundestag-wie-das-lukaschenko-regime-die-cdu-vorfuehrte/9743122.html . 2021-10-02 . 2021-10-02 . . de . 1865-2263 . Für die weißrussischen Propagandamedien erfüllte die Visite in Deutschland mit dem Besuchsprogramm im Bundestag einen ganz anderen Zweck. ... Die Belarussische Telegraphenagentur (Belta) verbreitete eine ganze Reihe von Meldungen zum Besuch der Politiker-Delegation in Deutschland. ....
  6. https://nn.by/?c=ar&i=61552 Поўны спіс 208 беларускіх чыноўнікаў, якім забаронены ўезд у ЕС
  7. .Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Belarus, EUR-Lex, 2012