Hrodna Athorities Concerned over Work of State-Run Press

20.12.2006.

Hrodna region department for ideology does everything it can in order to raise the professional level of the local newspapers. The so-called “district” newspapers are financed from the state budget and are run by the bodies of the local “vertical”.

That’s why the department for ideology held another seminar for chief editors of such newspapers.

Uladzimir Amelka, head of the ideology department at Hrodna regional executive committee, stated it was time to bring the newspapers closer to the readers, to create great demand for them and to equip the editorial offices with modern technologies. Moreover, in the future district newspapers are to switch to commercial operation, i.e. they will have to earn for their needs. Amelka demonstrated Hrodzenskaya Prauda, which seems to be working according to that scheme for some time, as an example of success in this sphere.

However, the practice shows that none of the state-owned newspapers manage to survive on their own. Otherwise the editorial teams would not work for the state authorities and promote the state ideology. On the other hand, liquidation of the independent press that used to be a real competitor to the “vertical” newspapers, did not make the state-run papers more popular, reports www.hrodna.by