Media replaces the state for Belarusians. And for now, it won't be otherwise

Take a look at the list of materials that, collectively across various platforms, have been the most viewed/read on Nasha Niva's resources since the beginning of the month. (We constantly monitor and meticulously analyze this data and its trends for ourselves).

In Kobryn, a father put his 12-year-old daughter on the wrong shuttle bus. And the driver wanted to drop her off in a strange city

Miraculously avoided disaster. A Russian drone fell in the Petrykaw district

A Belarusian was sent 50,000 Russian rubles. Only 43 arrived. It turns out the bank performs a double conversion

Halina Filipauna from Hrodna died, whom Lukashenka publicly criticized across the country in the summer of 2020

Horrific death of a scientist in Minsk. Neighbors decided he had too much to drink and left him in the elevator

A trucker from Smalyavichy ate a candy while driving and choked. Two people cannot be brought back

"Traffic police struck gold." A popular Minsk turn became a meme: it was banned, and now for a week, they've been fighting violators

Will it become dangerous for Belarusians to fly to Russia? Zelenskyy's harsh statement

Near Shchuchyn, half a street is being sold for pennies

Students began to be searched at the school entrance. They say much forbidden was found

Goodbye, freebie. Airlines started fighting against neck pillows

These are the topics that gather millions of views. In this list, as in a mirror, we see what currently interests us, our species — albaruthenus vulgaris, "ordinary Belarusians."

The topics are diverse, but most of them distinctly combine three points.

1) That behind them, behind specific cases, lie acute political or moral problems. The death of the scientist — alienation and distrust between people. Zelenskyy's statement and the drone near Petrykav — war. Halina Filipauna — the fate of those whom state media will not report on.

2) Many of these topics are also united by the fact that state-controlled and permitted media within Belarus either ignored them or were forced to speak out only after independent media highlighted them.

3) And, note: most of these topics, with a couple of exceptions, are only of interest to Belarusians. Russians or Poles would not read about the death of a scientist in Minsk, the tragedy of a trucker from Smalyavichy, or the sale of a village near Shchuchyn.

This list also clearly shows that infighting within the opposition camp does not interest ordinary Belarusians at all. Nothing about Tsikhanouski — neither his statements nor responses to them — gathered even a tenth of the views of the materials in the list above.

Yanka Kupala and Uladzimir Karatkevich for Belarusians, just like Taras Shevchenko or Adam Mickiewicz for Ukrainians and Poles, were more than just writers — more than Flaubert for the French and Pushkin for the Russians. Literature, in situations of occupation and statelessness, preserved language, national tradition, formed a community, and created a unique national code. What the state did for "state-owning" peoples, literature did for the stateless.

The situation in Belarus is still peculiar: statehood exists, but the state administration and security forces are controlled from Moscow and implement policies beneficial to Moscow. Everything Belarusian is mowed down like grass, so it doesn't rise, blossom, or spread. The Belarusian nation now lives contrary to this state administration.

Literature in our time no longer plays the role it did in the 19th, early 20th, and in Belarus, up to the end of the 20th century. Now, media and social networks have taken on this nation-building role as community creators. The nation is bound by the questions it discusses.

Social networks and online resources are the mycelium of our community now. From them, media can do the most: they are capable of setting the agenda. Social network algorithms are such that people stay connected there, but mostly in small circles and by interests. Media can unite people faster and more effectively. In social networks, we all depend on algorithms; media can set topics themselves. (The list also clearly shows how society itself chooses what interests it. People ignore what they are not interested in. Media only needs to carefully analyze statistical radars.)

Mass media exists because it is a natural need for modern society. For such a scattered online community, when everything is silent at home due to dictatorship, media is an absolute sine qua non — that without which it is impossible.

When Siarhei Tsikhanouski declared war on Nasha Niva, I went to look at his YouTube channel. There were four videos in a year: a New Year's greeting, a Freedom Day greeting, two attacks on "NN." All together — a couple of tens of thousands of views. On Nasha Niva, during the same period — 18,000 articles on the website, good, ordinary, passing, but still 18,000 — something for every taste, here a philosopher will find something for himself, and a merchant. On Nasha Niva's YouTube channels during the same time — 270 long video programs and thousands of shorts, and how many more TikToks, Reels, Threads, posts in the TG channel.

And it works. Data from platforms, which independent media share among themselves, shows that definitely more than 60% of Belarusians receive information from independent channels.

Bloggers will not replace the media — the systemic nature would disappear.

Unfortunately, we in the media sometimes forget: unlike writers of a hundred years ago, we are not "masters of thought"; we are "mirrors of days." One ironic word in the headline, one joke, and what a storm can arise. A lesson for each of my colleagues.

Media must self-improve. But not self-limit. The goal of self-improvement is to reach as many people as possible. The goal is to write and film more, not less.

I have often observed: as soon as Nasha Niva publishes an investigation or a problematic article, the subject of the material accuses "NN" of sensationalism. Discovered that a person had a cover passport, and his wife tried to infiltrate sensitive structures — "yellow media." Discovered that a minister of the transitional cabinet received a grant for a charlatan project — "yellow media." Uh, no. Don't confuse yellow with sharp.

Other people consider social chronicles to be sensationalism. I don't. I consider it an important part of life. Someone might say: what about your list above, social chronicles don't make it into the most-read. And that's because our society is fragmented; different groups and segments have different heroes. Some watch and read about some, others about others. So be it.

If Nasha Niva stopped doing social chronicles, it would weaken our community. "Who died, who was born, who married, who remarried, who fought with whom" — these are the basic questions that have always interested people. They talked about this in the village by the well, too.

* * *

If it were our will, it would be different. But circumstances are as they are. This is not what we would want. (And least of all do we in the media want it. The price journalists pay for their profession — God forbid anyone should pay it, and what else we may yet have to pay.)

It would be good to have our own democratic state, as Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Finns have, but until it exists — it won't be otherwise. In the situation in which we, Belarusians, are placed due to circumstances, we need strong media for the very existence of the nation. Without air, even those who don't like to be in the open air cannot exist.

And finally, here's a clipping from the newspaper "Nasha Dumka" (Our Opinion) from over a hundred years ago:

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