BT, ONT and STV are the three main national channels that have long served as a propaganda tool of the Belarusian authorities.
Their target audience is the primary electorate of Lukashenka – pensioners who do not have access to the Internet, law enforcement officers who are forced to watch “fairy tales”, and officials who share official opinion on many issues and are delighted with the red-and-green utopia.
These TV channels are based on the main principle: speak only good about Belarus, about the opposition – only bad. However, today, when the majority of the country’s population supported the alternative candidate and took part in the protests, almost the entire Belarusian nation was opposed to the journalists of the Belarusian television.
From the very beginning of the protests, TV channels tried to avoid coverage of what was happening in the streets, congratulating Lukashenka on winning the election, preparing viewers to subconsciously accept the victory of the longtime leader.
As the situation in the country heated up and mass strikes began in the state-owned giant enterprises, state propaganda leaders began to allow themselves for more liberal rhetoric, calling mass protests “protests against violence”.
The turning point was the ONT broadcast on August 17, in which Minsk tractor factory employees shouted to Lukashenka “Go away!”.
It is difficult to say what is happening inside the TV stations, but one thing is known: supported by daily pickets, numerous ONT and BT employees began to speak out loud about the need to provide true coverage of the events in the country.
Reportage, director Dzima Dzyadok, 2020, Belarus
