Kalinkina: Journalists are as helpless as other citizens in our situation
Editor-in-Chief of "Narodnaya Volya" Svyatlana Kalinkina has told what it's like to be a journalist in Belarus, on the International Day to End Impunity.
Euroradio: What it's like to be a journalist in Belarus?
Svyatlana Kalinkina: In my opinion, a journalist is someone who wants to be a journalist under any circumstances. You can write good or bad materials from the hot spots and from such countries as ours. Or create nothing talented in good conditions.
Euroradio: Do we need to protect Belarusian journalists and from what?
Svyatlana Kalinkina: I think that any crime should be punished. It concerns not just journalists, but common citizens as well. Journalists in Belarus need protection in the sense that people should protect themselves. Every person - and this is stated in our Constitution - has a right to get precise information without censorship. Attacks and pressure on journalists and, even more, crimes against journalists - this is in fact violation of the basic human rights. I think that people should indeed protect themselves in this regard.
Euroradio: Which violations of your rights as a journalist have you experienced in Belarus?
Svyatlana Kalinkina: Various ones - from a simple impossibility to work, when they closed newspapers like "Belarusian Business Newspaper" and the addendum "For Internal Use" to direct threats, searches, interrogations. When a journalist tries to find out the information which someone wants to conceal, and convey it to people, there are always conflicts. Journalists are as helpless as other citizens in our situation. The law on mass media is impossible to be followed - it is written in accordance with the principle "give everything to your friends and give the law to your enemies". Independent journalists act as enemies of the authorities in this sense.
One faces violations quite often here, so a philosophic attitude should be adopted in this regard. For example, if they told tomorrow that "Narodnaya Volya" would start working on state budget with increased circulation and in equal conditions with "Soviet Byelorussia" or "Republic", I would have been alarmed, frankly speaking. A journalist should be appreciated and respected by the people who he or she works for. As for the authorities, a journalist should be in a conflict with them in any country.
