Ivan Eismont. Screenshot of the video
MINSK, 4 January (BelTA) – In the documentary “70 years with you! Anniversary of Belarusian Television”, Chairman of the National State Television and Radio Company Ivan Eismont spoke about his most memorable shoots and the prototype of the popular program Editors’ Club on the channel, BelTA has learned.
As a journalist, Ivan Eismont created hundreds of stories on various topics: current affairs, official events, controversial issues, and sometimes tragic events. “There were many bright events that I recall with special joy. For example, the Olympic Games and other festive and official events. But there were also tragic ones. I still cannot forget two shoots I worked on. They both happened in the same year, 2011. These were the most terrible ones. I still remember them in detail,” he said.
The first was the explosion in the Minsk metro. Archival footage captures images from the scene of the tragedy, where Ivan Eismont remarked: “Oktyabrskaya will never again be just a metro station in the capital. From now on it is the site of a terrible crime, shocking in its cynicism and senselessness.”
“The second tragic news came when the Lokomotiv hockey team from Yaroslavl crashed, and I worked at a memorial event in Minsk Arena. It ended around 8 p.m., and at 9 p.m. the Panorama program was scheduled to begin, so I had to return, write, and edit the report. Technically it was possible. But we were all shocked by what happened in that 15,000-seat arena. It was a shock. It was the hardest story of my life,” the Belteleradiocompany chairman admitted.
Nevertheless, he managed to concentrate and find words that resonated with millions of viewers. “Today the entire Minsk Arena is cheering for Lokomotiv. The team that no longer exists is applauded by 15,000 spectators for the matches it played and for those it will never play,” the documentary recalled.
Projects such as Business Life, Sphere of Interests, Zone X, News, Main Broadcast, Panorama, and Editors’ Club were created with Ivan Eismont’s participation.
Now the head of Belteleradiocompany recalls that the prototype of the sought-after analytical project on the channel was in fact created by him back in his school days. “I was interested in everything, I knew journalists and presenters, I followed political events, and even began to conduct political briefings in my class. There was such a subject once a week. Having watched the news and read the newspapers, I told my classmates what was happening in the world. It was a miniature Editors’ Club, a kind of kinder version. I only thought of that now. But even then I spoke in front of an audience, and it wasn't difficult for me,” he said with a smile, drawing a parallel.
On 1 January 2026, Belarusian television celebrated its 70th anniversary. The era of Belarusian television began on the first day of 1956, when Tamara Bastun addressed viewers from a small studio in the still-unfinished television center.
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