According to the latest developments, Belarus will not be represented by journalists on the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in
Tallinn. An independant Belarusian radio station said that.
The interest in the contest is immense in Belarus (also called White-Russia), where the media wants to cover the contest widely. According to the radio station, Belarus is passive participant this year for the first time.
Mr. Rybakov, who is head of the national tv channel and responsible for accreditation, permission was granted for accreditation, but later the accreditation has been denied without any comments.
The Belarusian radio station rumoured that Mr.Rybakov decided not to let any Belarusian journalist cover the Eurovision Song Contest. The Organizing Committee said to the station that the decision of Mr. Rybakov is final.
An editor of the radio station said that “such a denial goes against national and international laws, it's a violation of the fundamental principles of the freedom of press, breaking the rights of a journalist to gather and to distribute information, it's a neglect of journalism ethics code.
