The Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA ( be, Беларускае Тэлеграфнае Агенцтва, russian: link=no, Белорусское Телеграфное Агентство, БелТА) is the state-owned national

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

of the

Republic of Belarus A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. It operates in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Belarusian,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

languages. Since 2018, the director of BELTA is Irina Akulovich.

History

The agency was founded on December 23, 1918. During the Soviet times BelTA cooperated with the

Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

(TASS), although it was legally independent of it. After the USSR ceased to exist in 1991, BelTA has been the national news agency of Belarus. It transmits over a hundred daily reports, and provides information to other news agencies of

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

members about the activities of Belarusian officials and organizations in and out of the country. BelTA has offices in all

regions of Belarus At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six ''oblasts'' (''voblasts'' or provinces). The city of Minsk, has a special status as the capital of Belarus. Minsk is also the capital of Minsk Region.Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Criticism

Some observers called BeTA a propaganda outlet. The BelTA Director-General

Dzmitry Zhuk Dzmitry Zhuk ( be, Дзмітрый Жук or ''Дзьмітры Жук'') is a Belarusian journalist and media manager. He is the former head of the press service of president Alexander Lukashenko. Since February 2018 Main Editor of the state-o ...

was banned from entering the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

between 2011 and 2016 as part of the EU's sanctions against Belarus following what the EU describes as a crackdown of opposition protests after the 2010 presidential election.Поўны спіс 208 беларускіх чыноўнікаў, якім забаронены ўезд у ЕС
–

ull list of 208 Belarusian officials banned from entering the EU Ull or ULL may refer to: University: * University of La Laguna, a university in Canary Islands, Spain * University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a research university in the USA Other: * Ullr or Ull, a Germanic god * Ull (Greyhawk), a political sta ...

Nasha Niva ''Nasha Niva'' ( be, Наша Ніва, Naša Niva, lit. "Our field") is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers, founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991. ''Nasha Niva'' became a cultural symbol, due to the newspaper's importance as a p ...

, October 11, 2011 According to the EU Council's decision concerning restrictive measures against Belarus following the 2010 election, Dzmitry Zhuk is responsible for ''"relaying state propaganda in the media, which has supported and justified the repression of the democratic opposition and of civil society on December 19, 2010 using falsified information."''Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Belarus

EUR-Lex Eur-Lex (stylized EUR-Lex) is an official website of European Union law and other public documents of the European Union (EU), published in 24 official languages of the EU. The Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union is also published on EU ...

, 2012

References

External links

BelTA: About Our Company
Eastern Bloc mass media Organizations established in 1918 News agencies based in Belarus Mass media in Minsk Propaganda in Belarus 1922 establishments in Belarus Belarusian news websites {{Belarus-media-stub

History

Criticism

See also

References

External links