Editor-in-Chief of Rodnaje Slova Magazine Dismissed

18.12.2006.

The editor-in-chief of the Rodnaje Slova magazine Mikhail Shavyrkin was dismissed by the Minister of Education on December 14.

One of the reasons for dismissal was the fact that the magazine’s circulation was decreasing. “But how can the circulation increase when the role of the Belarusian language is decreasing?”, – wonders Mikhail Shavyrkin in his interview to the BAJ Press Service.

“One more thing is that we published articles about such writers as Buraukin, Hilevich and Niaklayeu. Members of the new pro-governmental union of writers claimed that we paid too much attention to them”, – said Rodnaje Slova’s former editor-in-chief.

According to Mikhail Shavyrkin, a member of the editorial staff Tatsiana Shamiakina (head of the Chair of Belarusian Literature and Culture at Philology Department of BSU) expressed that opinion not long ago.

Mikhail Shavyrkin had been the edition’s editor-in-chief for 19 years since it was founded. He will continue working for the magazine as the head of the department of Belarusian linguistics and methodology. Larysa Sahanovich is appointed acting editor-in-chief.

The circulation of Rodnaje Slova totals about 3950 issues. It is distributed mainly through the subscription system. Its subscribers are mostly libraries and teachers.