Lukashenko compares power of mass media with nuclear weapons
MINSK, 10 April (BelTA) – Mass media play a big role in today's world. It is information wars rather than armed conflicts that come to the fore today, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko noted as he met with heads and journalists of Belarus' largest state-run media outlets on 10 April, BelTA informs.
“Mass media can crush anyone in one blow,” the head of state stressed.
“Information wars have become the defining feature of the 21st century. Mass media have been turned into a weapon. In fact, this weapon is more powerful than the nuclear one, because a piece of news can sweep the whole world. It is far from certain that the destructive power of nuclear weapons is greater,” the president said.
In this context, the key task is to fight for the hearts and minds of the people, he added. “If we do not win over the hearts and minds of the Belarusians, we will fail to ever build an independent country in its classical form," he underlined.
The president pointed to the big amount of information available today. “Printed media, TV, and the internet occupy our time and fill our mind. Any information travels at the speed of light, both positive and negative one. This situation has transformed into an information war. We can see it anywhere today,” the head of state remarked.
Belarus is an exceptionally peaceful country, Alexander Lukashenko pointed out. “Our land will never be a source of any aggression. However, we must be able to stand up for ourselves in military terms and in terms of information. There can be no hot war today. Everything begins with you. You come to the fore as journalists. Your task is to form a constructive public opinion through a timely and unbiased coverage of the material and an honest and meaningful dialogue with the audience,” the president summarized.
Speaking about prospects of amending the Constitution, Alexander Lukashenko remarked that from his point of view some functions should be transferred from the president to other branches of power.
According to the head of state, Belarus did the right thing in the past when it refused to follow the path of shock therapy reforms and changes. “I don't have to convince you of that anymore. Back then I had to tell everyone that we shouldn't rush things, that we have our own peculiarities, our own way of life," he said.
Speaking about the main tasks of mass media outlets, the head of state noted that some of them are described in the new law on media. They include the development of the domestic TV content. The new law has been designed to “protect our people from a flow of unverified, false, destructive information.”
Alexander Lukashenko mentioned a recent evacuation of 299 people from a hospital in Soligorsk after fire in the hospital basement was reported. The head of state attributed the rapid response to the emergency partially to the recent deadly fire in the shopping mall Zimnyaya Vishnya in the Russian city of Kemerovo.
BelTA Director General Irina Akulovich raised the matter of interaction with civil servants and their refusal to sometimes comment on problems. In her words, executives of all ranks and levels should understand that if they have information, they should share it before the problem goes critical.
“I urge you to make the TV better, both the picture and the media coverage. Though a journalist can say just a couple of phrases, he or she should get to the point. I want to watch only our TV channels. I am too much of a nationalist in this regard,” the head of state remarked.
Participants of the meeting raised the matter of responsibility of mass media in today's complicated conditions when fake news are capable of seriously influencing the public opinion. The head of state stressed that he supports sincere and honest politics and advised the mass media to do the same.
Alexander Lukashenko agreed that the situation is not normal. “It is not normal if the head of state talks more than the minister about the topic the minister should know better,” noted the head of state. He stressed that heads of the relevant government agencies should speak up so that the public could get objective and timely information.
"Mass media is a sacred thing. If the government can finance and support media, especially the electronic ones, it must do this. This is a task of national importance. When it comes to private media, we should make sure the owners of private media stick to their commitments,” the president noted.
