The monitoring service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists analyzed what is being prepared for journalists.

According to the forecast of the chairman of the Central Election Commission Ihor Karpenko, the Electoral Code should be signed by the head of state by the end of the year.

He reminded: from September 2023, the country enters the "active phase" of the implementation of a fundamentally new model - a single day of voting on the Russian model.

The BAJ monitoring service draws attention to the fact that the code regulates the role of the media in election campaigns - "we are primarily talking about state propagandists, because independent journalism in Belarus has been destroyed as a phenomenon, and accredited foreign media are limited mainly to Russian newsrooms."

Article No. 46 is devoted to explaining the activities of the mass media.

The updated version specifies which journalists have the right to cover the election campaign.

As expected, random people cannot be there a priori, BAJ notes.

• "A representative of a mass media is a journalist or a person with a document testifying to his authority as a representative of a legal entity with assigned editorial functions of a mass media.

  A journalist of a foreign media is obliged to have a confirmed accreditation of an employee of a foreign media in the Republic of Belarus," the corrected version explains.

BAJ notes that strict limits for a journalist are defined not so much by the mentioned document, but by the law on the activity of mass media.

Alexander Lukashenko signed it on May 24, 2021.

It was approved that the list of information, the distribution of which is prohibited in the mass media and on Internet resources, is expanded.

In particular, a taboo has been imposed on the results of public opinion polls conducted without special accreditation.

Placing hyperlinks to materials containing information disloyal to state institutions is not allowed.

The Prosecutor General and the vertical subordinate to him received the right to limit access to Internet resources and network publications through which information aimed at "propaganda of extremist activities" or containing calls for such activities is distributed.

This is explained by "damage to national interests".

Under the threat of criminal liability, journalists and media managers cannot live-stream any street action, as it "inflames tension in society."

The exception is when the event of state importance and coverage is authorized by the protocol services of the presidential administration.

"Minimization of foreign influence" on the Belarusian information market

• The Interdepartmental Commission on Security in the Information Sphere can stop the release of mass media.

  At the same time, repressive functions are also retained in the Ministry of Information - for example, in the case of issuing two or more written warnings to a legal entity entrusted with editorial functions, or to the owner of an online publication.

• Prescribed measures to "minimize foreign influence" on the Belarusian information market.

• Regardless of the time of creation of mass media, their founders cannot be foreign legal entities, foreign citizens, as well as legal entities with foreign participation.

• It is possible to revoke a journalist's accreditation if he or a legal entity with media editorial functions disseminates information that does not correspond to reality, or commits a deliberate illegal act in the course of professional activity.

• The possibility of restricting access to a copy of an Internet resource, which was previously restricted, is established.

BAJ concludes that "the powers of the so-called "fourth power" in Belarus are reduced to a minimum, and its main role is limited to ideological and propaganda service of the current political regime.

Not to mention the fact that over the past year a number of independent media have been recognized by the authorities as "extremist" materials or formations, more and more journalists are on the lists of security forces as being involved in extremist and even terrorist activities.

More than three dozen media workers have been convicted or remain behind bars awaiting court verdicts."