Even official sociologists admit that the internet is more popular than print media.
Belarusian minister of information Aleh Praliaskouski visited the International Research and Practice Conference "Information Security as Part of Country's National Security" on July 11 and turned attention to the ongoing growth of the internet's significance as a source of social and political information for Belarusians, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Information reports.
The official referred to the data of the Centre for Social and Political information of Belarusian State University. The Centre says that in 2005, 47.6% of Belarusian audience preferred to receive information about politics, 44.1% and 39.5% about culture and economic issues from print media, while only 2.7%, 2.8% and 4% respectively used the internet. The situation had changed by 2012: the relation between print media and the internet on the above-mentioned topics was 34.8%, 33.1% and 27.1 for print media and 34.9%, 33.4% and 34.9% for the internet.
Aleh Praliaskouski thinks that the internet is characterised by the absolute and sometimes excessive freedom of communication both for users and content producers. "National security interests in this sector demand an initiative and forward-looking policy of government and friendly agencies in relation to the Belarusian audience. It's impossible to persuade internet users not to read one or another site, but it is possible to attract them to our sites thus influencing the information situation," Aleh Praliaskouski thinks.
