Ideological department bans ‘Nasha Niva’ advertisement in tube
In December, after the Belarusian authorities agreed to return Nasha Niva to newsstands and to the official subscription catalog, the editorial office of the newspaper applied to the advertisement service of Minsk tube for placing an advertisement there.
The application was considered for a month. Then the editorial office received an answer that there was no free space available. Though the advertisement service did not mind advertising Nasha Niva, they had to have the agreement of the ideological department of Minsk city executive committee. Predictably enough, this state agency did not give such an agreement.
During the month members of the editorial office several times phoned to the advertisement service of Minsk tube. Then finally the head of the department of mass events Eduard Tamilchyk told that there were no advertisement spaces for January and proposed that they applied in February.
The journalists immediately phoned to the advertisement service and asked whether there was any space for advertisement. The answer, of course, was positive (one can clearly see empty advertisement boards in the tube carriages due to the financial crisis).
That’s why now members of the editorial board of Nasha Niva ask the following questions to the Belarusian authorities:
1) How can a country where any advertisement must be agreed with the ideological department can hope for getting the image of ‘business-friendly’?
2) How many ideological workers are there in the country if they can read all advertisements? And from which of the two credits will they receive wage – from the one given by the International Monetary Fund or that given by the Russian Federation?
3) What reputation can an ideologist count on with such an approach to business?
