Pinsk: Sale of Non-state Newspaper Miastsovy Chas Disturbs Local Authorities

According to BAJ

Pinsk authorities ‘insistently advise’ shops to refuse from selling the non-state newspaper Miastsovy chas. This week the Astoria shop has sent to the editorial board of the newspaper a letter with the request to cancel the agreement for sale of the newspaper.

‘We tried to find out what was the reason, because the newspaper is quite popular with readers and sells well. The answer was short – a worker of Pinsk City Executive Committee said to the administration of shops that neighborhood of Miastsovy chas with the state press in the shops is undesirable and warned that there could be trouble in the case the appropriate conclusions were made’, said the chief editor of the newspaper Viktar Iarashuk.

Before this the editorial board of Miastsovy chas concluded sale agreements with a number of Pinsk shops. The first day of the sale left no unsold copies. It cheered up the journalists, who decided to begin cooperation with other city’s shops. Instead, thanks to interference of the local authorities the number of the shops that sell the newspaper has decreased.