Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko opines on propaganda in Belarus

MINSK, 24 October (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized the importance of ideological work at the meeting with Belarusian youth activists on 24 October, BelTA reports.

The question concerned mass media and journalists of the presidential press pool. According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, he follows what journalists do, assesses their work and sometimes criticizes them. “They are in the public eye. I respect them very much,” said the head of state.

He noted that after 2020, a lot of journalists reassessed the events taking place around them.

The head of state also sees certain shortcomings in the work of journalists, because he himself was professionally engaged in propaganda and counter-propaganda when he was an ideological worker. “I tell my journalists not to distance themselves from this. Yes, we are engaged in propaganda and agitation. There is nothing wrong with that. We promote the best of what we have. We encourage people to work harder and produce better results. We should have and we actually do have our own ideology. Ideological policy, ideological work,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that personnel and ideology are priority areas of the work of the Belarus President Administration.

“There is no need to invent anything. Propaganda and agitation – that’s how it’s called. No one came up with anything better. They encouraged us to drop it in order to create a mess. But we had a good system,” the head of state noted.

Speaking about ideology and public associations, in particular the BRSM Youth Union, the president warned against formalism, which was often the case in Soviet times. The organization should have real weight.

Returning to the issue of journalists, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that media workers found themselves at the forefront of an unfolding information warfare. “I can’t go anywhere without them now. And they really help me convey my message, to explain to you the policy that I’m trying to pursue,” he said.

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