In the course of recent days, a
number of leading news agencies around the world have issued reports that the
newspaper The Russian America
conducted an interview with the President of Belarus, Aleksandr
Lukashenko, in which the President disclosed a set of
policy programs that he intended to implement in his country. The state
information agency of Belarus mentioned that The Russian America planed to dedicate 12 full pages of its next
issue entirely to President Lukashenko. Finally,
according to the information of the same news agency, The Russian America recognized President Lukashenko
as “the best politician of the year.”
These three reports literally shook
and astounded the editorial staff of The
Russian America. The newspaper experienced a torrent of telephone calls –
many of which came from politicians – with requests to explain what was going
on. The reaction is, of course, understandable. President Lukashenko
is not renowned for his democratic views. The journalists and the politicians
demanded an explanation.
They, however, were not able to
receive it. The simple cause is that The
Russian America
- has never interviewed President
Lukashenko
- has never intended to give 12
pages to President Lukashenko
- has never recognized President Lukashenko as
“the best politician of the year.”
Any
professional journalist is bound to deem the choice of giving 12 pages to a
single interview – be it even with President Lukashenko
– as rather ridiculous. There is nothing to add here.
Just
as any other publication, The Russian
America is ready to do an interview with any of the world leaders – whether
it is Lukashenko, Putin,
Bush, Chirac, or – for that matter – Saddam Hussein. We, however, are
categorically against conducting propaganda campaigns to spread their views.
The age of propaganda has passed. Today we live in an age of open and
accessible information.
Valeriy A. Tarasov
President of
New Ad Age International, INC.
Publisher of The
Russian America newspaper