Media: information security challenges require media policy differentiation

Summary

In 2017, information security issues arising from the influence of Russian media and the lack of funding for national media remained acute in Belarus. For Belarus, another confirmation of the difficult situation in the field of control of the information space was the coverage of the maneuvers ‘West–2017’. An example of how traditional media can lose in the competition to new media was the coverage of the death of emergency service soldier Alexander Korzhich. The Belarusian authorities began to search for new ways to maintain information security and preserve the competitiveness of the media, without abandoning the usual harassment of independent journalists. A. Karlyukevich was appointed a new Minister of Information, who immediately announced the preparation of a new version of the Law on mass media, with changes, first of all, regarding the regulation of Internet communication.

Trends:

• Internal and external information security challenges remain;
• Economic growth and some infrastructural innovations improve the media financing situation, but this affects traditional media to a lesser extent;
• The approaches of the authorities to media politics have been differentiated.

Challenges to information security

During 2017, the Belarusian authorities have repeatedly faced the fact that they lose to other subjects in the information landscape. First, it concerns the events of the protest spring of 2017. The protests against the ‘tax on social parasites’ demonstrated the potential for solidarity in the Belarusian society with regard to general social and economic problems. Moreover, the leaders of the protest movement were able to organize and coordinate protests not only in Minsk, but also in the regions. As a result, the authorities had to suspend the decree. But there was also a strong reaction both to protesters on Freedom Day, March 25, 2017, and to journalists of independent media.

The second significant challenge for the information security of the country was the coverage of the joint Belarusian-Russian military maneuvers ‘West–2017’, held on 14–22 September. As a result of several attempts of provocation by the Russian media and sharply negative assessment of the maneuvers in the media of Western neighbors, many Belarusian experts started talking about the fact that the Ministry of Defense lost the information war. A more detailed analysis of the materials of the leading media showed that an unfriendly coverage of the maneuvers could not adversely affect the reputation of Belarus. The leading media stressed the openness of the maneuvers and the effectiveness of the press services, which allowed preserving the image of Belarus as a sovereign entity focused on improving relations with the West.1 Nevertheless, information threats became more visible, which became another reason for the beginning of significant personnel changes in the management structure of the media sphere.

And finally, another demonstration of the fact that the Belarusian authorities are not able to fully control the informational field and public opinion was the public reaction to the death of the soldier Alexander Korzhich on 3 October, 2017 in the military unit in Pečy. As a result of extensive coverage of the tragedy in the independent media and the intervention of the public the investigation of the circumstances of the soldier’s death was taken under personal control of the President. Initially, the Ministry of Defense and state-run media shied away from covering the issue. Experts of Belarus Security Blog list such traditional methods of official media as being silent on the problem, denial of guilt and references to the machinations of the ‘fifth column’2 . However, when under pressure from the public and independent media the case was set in motion, the result of the scandal showed the ineffectiveness of the old methods of information confrontation.

Thus, the events of 2017 clearly showed to the Belarusian authorities that we live in a situation of real rather than potential information threats (a noticeable trend is that Belarusian security experts more often raise security issues in the media sphere). It also becomes obvious that traditional methods of upholding primacy in the information space function less well and it is important to use new ways of development of the media sphere that meet the challenges of our time. These challenges are typical not only for Belarus, but also for all countries of the region. Thus, at the Second Eastern Partnership Media Conference,3 the main message of the experts was not awareness of the challenges posed by the Russian media field, as it had been at the first media conference in 2015, but the search for ways of development in these conditions. Experts see the main directions of media development in the region as evolutionary changes in response to changes in the behavior and preferences of the audience, the necessary development and application of new technologies even for traditional media and the search for ways of economic sustainability.

Internal and external financing of traditional media

Some recovery in economic growth in 2017 gives hope for improving the financial stability of the media due to the advertising market. However, this will primarily affect new media. It is difficult to talk about the considerable prospects of increased funding for traditional media, especially independent media.

After the decline in the advertising market by 10% in 2016, in 2017, it started to grow. The growth rate of the advertising market reached 19%,4 although the forecast for growth in 2016 was limited to 6%. The total volume of the Belarusian advertising market is estimated at USD 86 million. According to experts, in 2018, the growth will continue and will reach 21%.

However, the main source of growth in the advertising market is advertising on the Internet. While the growth rate of Internet advertising was 30%, TV advertising grew only by 16% (less than for the advertising market as a whole). The share of TV advertising continues to decline. In 2010 advertising on television accounted for 60% of all advertising costs, in 2015-2016 the figure decreased to 49%, and in 2017 it amounted to only 44%.

According to statistics of the Ministry of information,5 the number of printed publications continues to grow slowly. This growth (from 1607 editions in 2016 to 1659 editions in 2017) occurred equally at the expense of newspapers, magazines, almanacs and other periodicals.

The advertising market depends not only on the economic situation, but also on the development of infrastructure and rules of the game. The issue of a single independent subject of television viewing measurements is still not resolved in the TV advertising market in Belarus: at the moment the system is financed primarily by TV channels, which makes approaches to data collection dependent on their interests. Also the issue of inclusion in the analysis of TV viewing data from alternative devices (computer, mobile phone) in the conditions of active development of smart TV is relevant. In 2017 the infrastructure player offering a common service for the sale of advertising, audience measurement and monitoring of radio boradcast Adbuy entered the market of radio advertising (something that has not been possible for the TV advertising market). However, as in the case of data collection on TV viewing, the funding of the system is borne by radio stations rather than advertisers, which may in some way influence decision-making on the development of common approaches to data collection and analysis.

Considering the changes from a legal point of view, we can expect them from the new concept of the development of the advertising market concept, the development of which the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade started in 2017. However, the changes will primarily affect the liberalization of regulation of outdoor advertising and the tightening of regulation of advertising on the Internet and social networks, which can affect traditional media only indirectly (by slowing the growth of the share of Internet advertising).

According to the Ministry of Finance, referred to by experts of the Belarusian Association of Journalists in their report,6 public spending on the media, which significantly decreased in 2016 (from EUR 60 million to EUR 45 million) in 2017 practically remained the same (EUR 46 million), and for 2018 no significant growth is planned (EUR 48 million).

The differentiated approach of the authorities to managing the information landscape

In the absence of prospects for improving the financial stability of traditional media and in response to the current internal and external challenges of the media field, the Belarusian authorities were forced to apply a differentiated approach to the management of the information space. On the one hand, in response to relatively broad social and economic protests, the oppression of independent media became more severe in spring 2017. Experts of the Belarusian Association of Journalists consider this tightening unprecedented since the presidential elections of 2010. In 2017 there were recorded 101 arrests of journalists (in 2016 there were only 13) and 69 cases of fines for cooperation with foreign media without accreditation (the practice was suspended in 2016, when journalists were fined under article 22.9 in only 10 cases). In addition, on 31 March in two offices where journalists of the TV channel Belsat worked, equipment was seized after the searches.7

However, the need to maintain positive trends in relations with the West, together with the presence of external threats, led the authorities to take steps towards independent media. After the meeting of Alexander Lukashenko with the chief editor of the newspaper Narodnaya Volya Iosif Seredich nine publications which were exluded almost 11 years ago were finally returned to the subscription lists of Belposhta and distribution system of Belsayuzdruk.

The need to respond to the challenges of our time led to the beginning of a series of significant personnel changes in the media in autumn 2017. On September 28, 2017, Aleksandr Lukashenko appointed Aleksandr Karlyukevich Minister of Information. The new Minister immediately announced the forthcoming edition of the law on mass media, with the changes which would affect primarily new media. The trend of replacing the main officials of the media sphere will continue in early 2018, and as in the case of the Minister of Information, we are not talking about claims against previous leaders, but about the need for rejuvenation of personnel and the development of new approaches to the management of the information landscape.

Conclusion

Internal and external challenges for the country's information security make the state apply differentiated approaches in the management of the media sphere. On the one hand, harassment of independent journalists becomes more severe when there is a risk of losing control over public opinion. On the other hand, the need to strengthen the national information system and support the development of relations with the West forces the state to make some concessions to the independent media. Despite the recovery of economic growth and the growth of the advertising market, it is difficult to expect an increase in the financial stability of traditional media. Also, there is no expected increase in public funding for the media sphere. However, trying to meet the challenges of our time in 2017 personnel changes to rejuvenate the leadership in the media began. Attempts to reform and update the media could be expected in the coming year, but no significant progress could be made in the absence of additional investment. As previusly one can protect the information space of country only by restrictive measures, which, in particular, puts the independent media under threat of oppression.