Svetach Printing Press Cancels Contract with Mestnaya Gazeta

28.05.2004.

The editors of the independent newspaper from Vawkavysk have been informed that Svetach printing press cancels the contract since May 28. The official reason is financial debt of the newspaper, reports press service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
On May 26 the printing press was supposed to print the last issue of the newspaper. However, that day the Mestnaya Gazeta chief editor Andrei Shantarovich received a phone call from Siarhei Charhinets. The Svetach director of operations claimed he could not permit printing one of the articles and suggested it should be replaced by another one. He meant the article about corruption in Vawkavysk tax inspection. Shantarovich refused to replace the article. He suggested the printing press to leave a blank space on the place of the article. In an hour the director f operations called back with the news that the issue would not be printed at all.
Mestnaya Gazeta chief editor have already contacted a number of printing presses in misnk, baranavichy, and Slonim, but their management refused to provide the services for the newspaper.
Svetach printed Mestnaya Gazeta for 12 months. Shantarovich believes, the main reason for contract cancellation was a series of critical articles about the work of the tax inspection. The first articles came out last week. According to Shantarovich, since his newspaper appeared in 2001, the local state newspaper has experienced significant drops in circulation. “Obviously, the authorities fail to implement the “ideological program”, and decided to use other methods to fight for readers”, Shantarovich sums up.
Two weeks ago Svetach printing press refused to print the Novaya Hazeta Smarhoni