New chair of the Pinsk ideology department forces heads of organizations and enterprises to subscribe to Sovetskaya Belorussiya, a pro-governmental newspaper. Simultaneously, Miastsovy Chas weekly, the only independent newspaper is banned. (19-SEP-05)
Valiantsina Kulak, new chair of the ideology department of Pinsk City Executive Committee, started his work with ordering Aliaksandr Kolba, the main specialist of the department, to personally phone to all heads of organizations and enterprises of Pinsk and say they had to obligatory sign to Sovetskaya Belorussiya newspaper, the organ of state propaganda.
At the same time, according to the monitoring service of Belarusian Association of Journalists, Miastsovy Chas weekly, the only independent newspaper of Pinsk, is no longer sold even by private individuals: the local authorities threatened them with troubles in case they sold it. The editorial board of the newspaper proposed the readers to subscribe to the newspaper. However, the state post doesn?t accept it for distribution, that?s why the journalists have to deliver it on their own.
