The official exhibition "Mass Media in Belarus" was opened in Minsk on May 4, which is supposed to be attended only by complimentary tickets or exhibitor badge. However, the reporters of the Belarusian independent media were able to enter the exhibition center BelExpo and deployed "Nasha Niva" and "People's Will" in front of Information Minister Oleh Proleskovski.
The exhibition is attended only by state media, publishing and advertising companies. Independent media outlets have failed to provide even a common stand. However, it has recently been free to enter the exhibition, «Nasha Niva.»
However, there is the stand of the Government of Moscow, represented by the publication «Izvestia» and «Rossiyskaya Gazeta». Products of the Publishing House of Moscow authorities — exhibited biography of Alexander Lukashenko, wrote by the historian Roy Medvedev, were also demonstrated there.
Therefore, the Belarusian Association of Journalists urged conscious citizens to come to the porch of the exhibition center and to protest against attempts by the Ministry of Information to close independent media «Nasha Nіva» and «Narodnaya Volia.»
Photo nnnnnbyAt 12:00, about ten journalists held a collective reading of these papers in front of the building, but later they were able to come inside. They were defiantly reading independent publications close to the scene during the speech of the minister of information.
Oleh Proleskovski did not respond to the flash-mob, said «European Radio for Belarus.» The first deputy head of the Presidential Administration Alexander Radkov and head of the Belteleradiocompany Hennady Davydko «did not notice» the campaign as well. However, the journalists were able to approach the officials after the opening of the exhibition, to show editions and talk about their situation.
As Telegraf previously reported, April 25, the Ministry of Information of Belarus filed a claim in the Supreme Economic Court to discontinue the two largest opposition newspapers «Nasha Niva» and «Narodnaya Volia.» The Minister Oleh Proleskovski stated that was «the right of the ministry and his personal position as a minister.»
