The Belorusskaia delovaia gazeta and the Belorusskaia gazeta still have not been re-registered for their names

31.08.2005.

It is still unclear whether the Belorusskaia delovaia gazeta and the Belorusskaia gazeta will be able to be re-registered. According to the presidential decree, independent periodicals have to stop using the words "belarusian" and "national" in their names. Most of the periodicals whose names featured these words have already been reregistered under new names – for example, the Belorusski rynok is now Belarusy i rynok (Belarusians and Rynok), and the Natsionalnaia ekanamichnaia gazeta (National economic newspaper) is now Ekanamichnaia gazeta.
The decree No.247 was signed on 31 May but took effect only after publication in the press. That's why the re-registration of the periodicals whose names incorporate the words "national" and "Belarusian" expires on 5 September, explained Viktar Huretski, the head of the Media Registration Department of the Ministry of Information, in an interview with a Radio Liberty correspondent.
On 30 August the Minister of Information Uladzimier Rusakievich gave an interview to the Interfax agency, where he claims he supports it "that all newspapers continue to come out". According to Mr. Rusakievich, the ministry specialists together with the publishers, who proposed the use of abbreviations in the new names, are now solving the problem of the names.
The publisher and senior editor of the Belorusskaia delovaia gazeta Piotr Martsau, who submitted the new name "BDG. Delovaia gazeta", is sure that deciding on the name for a periodical does not relate to the ministry. "Minister Rusakievich turns the new names of two newspapers into a big issue. Assessment is not in his job description, in principle. The Ministry of Information does not have either the right to assess the names, or the right to change them, or recommend anything – does it make any difference to it whether this is an abbreviation or a set of letters? From the standpoint of the law, this is not within his powers. That's why one may only guess at the reasons…"

This is the comment provided by Andrei Bastuniets, a lawyer of the Belarusian Association of Journalists: "This is not just loss of the brand, some financial costs, this is also big problems because the editorial offices have to be reregistered according to the Law on the Press. They have to prepare all documents, get permission for the editorial office location from the local authorities. That the Belorusskaia delovaia gazeta still does not have any information may mean that this is the goal pursued by those behind this move".

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