Successful Integration / failed Integration – my experiences with integration and the media in my country.

By Sviatlana Dzenisevich

We know that mass media have an enormous influence on the society. «We become
what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us», Marshall McLuhan said. Mass media are very important for any kind of integration. To my regret, I would like to speak about failed integration in the Republic of Belarus. Mass media show only one side of the politic side of the country. Mass media are controlled by the head of state and it is forbidden to show the existence of other opinions that do not support the “leading opinion”.
For instance, in the Republic of Belarus people even do not know the names of the representatives of opposition because TV – journalists are not supposed to use the real names of the opposition leaders but phrases such as “one of the representatives of a non-governmental organization”, or other paraphrases. Another point is that the Belarusian mass media impose only one, “right” opinion of the ruling government on the society and do not leave people any choice. It is very difficult to trust Belarusian mass media.

Integration is not only a prerogative of the whole society; it is also everyone’s own
experience. I would like to speak about my own attempts to integrate into the life of a foreign country and my connection with media in it. As for my connection with Lithuanian media, I work for a radio programme for Belarusians who live abroad.
It is called “The local Time” and performed in the Belarusian. Working on the radio helped me improve my professional skills and invest them in the formation of European youth’s opinion. I think it is also a small step towards bringing Belarus and the European Union together.

I did not, and still do not believe in what Belarusian media impose on our society. They do not leave any choice, any attempt to make our own opinions or decisions. Some people cannot understand why I preferred to study at a University in Lithuania, not in Belarus. Some people think of me as of a dissident. But for me, it is mass media that form this kind of anti-European opinion.

Sviatlana Dzenisevich was born 1990 in Belarus. Since 2008 she is studying journalism at the European Humanities Universty in Vilnius/Litauen.