All-National Television (Russian: Общенациональное телевидение, Obshchenatsional'noe Televidenie, ONT; Belarusian: Агульнанацыянальнае тэлебачанне, Ahuľnanacyjanaľnaje teliebačannie, ANT) is Belarus's second state-owned television station. It was established on 15 February 2002 by decree of the President of Belarus. It replaced relays of Channel One and currently broadcasts most of the channel's content.
History
ONT was established by decree of the president on February 15, 2002. The channel used the frequencies formerly used by relayers of Channel One.
The Minsk Executive Committee officially registered ONT on March 19, 2002.
Broadcasts commenced on June 25, 2002, at 20:35. The first show seen on the new channel was Nashe Novosti (Our News), ONT's main news programme. The first edition was hosted by Alexander Averkov. Initially it relayed ORT's programming most of the time with significant differences in advertising breaks and news operation, as well as programming from a few other federal Russian channels (NTV, TNT, RTR). As the years progressed, the channel added more original content.
Nashe Utro (Our Morning) first went on the air on February 3, 2004.
Between February 2007 and November 2008, it attempted 24-hour broadcasting, using the overnight hours to broadcast films and a short edition of Nashe Novosti at 3am.
In late 2009 ONT was expected to be given the rights to select Belarus entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 after a decision of president Alexander Lukashenko. On August 1, 2009 ONT got the rights to host the 2010 national selection.
On October 9, 2013, ONT launched a second channel broadcasting exclusively to the internet, ONT.BY, airing ONT's original productions.
On March 21, 2016, ONT became one of the first main Belarusian channels to switch to widescreen.
Programming
ONT relays most of Channel One's shows, such as Vremya, Pole Chudes, Smak, Zhdi Menya (Wait For Me) among others, as well as having a significant amount of local productions like the nightly news bulletin Nashe Novosti (Our News), which airs directly after Vremya, morning talk-show Nashe Utro (Our Morning), a local version of Chto? Gde? Kogda?, among others.
When Channel One shows are broadcast, a dual logo, consisting of Channel One's logo on top of ONT's is used.
Criticism
ONT adheres to pro-government political views; in news programs and documentary projects, the policies pursued by President Alexander Lukashenko are strongly endorsed. Broadcast interviews with opposition figures were kept to a minimum, and after the 2020 presidential elections, they ceased to take place altogether; In addition, during this period, propaganda sections appeared on the channel (for example, “It will be supplemented”, “Anti-fake”), in which the opposition was discredited, and the current interview “Markov. Nothing Personal” is now dedicated exclusively to people who publicly approve of the activities of the Belarusian authorities.
Closing of the talk show "Choice" during the 2010 presidential elections
On December 19, 2010, ONT aired a special edition of the talk show Choice hosted by Sergei Dorofeev (who is also the director of the channel’s morning broadcasting directorate). During the broadcast, Dorofeev, who at that time had opposition political views, began asking “uncomfortable” questions to the officials who were in the studio, including the head of the Central Election Commission of Belarus Lidia Ermoshina , dedicated, in particular, to violations at polling stations, the exclusion of opposition representatives, and official a ban on mass protests and forcing citizens to participate in early voting. After a number of such questions asked by Dorofeev, Ermoshina defiantly left the program’s studio, saying that she “ doesn’t have time to be liberal while people are blocked in the Central Election Commission .” After this broadcast, the program went on vacation, from which it subsequently did not return; from January 31, 2011, the channel began airing a new talk show “Open Format”, which took the airing place of “Choice” (the topic of the first episode of the new program was the past presidential elections, its guest was also Ermoshina, and the episode itself passed without mentioning “unpleasant" for the power of moments).
In April 2011, Sergei Dorofeev was fired from ONT.[1][2]
Coverage of the 2020 presidential election and subsequent protest
On June 12, 2020, during the election campaign , the ONT TV channel published a video in which affirmative statements were made regarding the guilt of the candidate for the post of President of the Republic of Belarus Viktor Babariko and those detained in the Belgazprombank case:
“I can’t even imagine that such activities could be carried out without the knowledge of the manager. And I can already say that we have evidence of his participation in this illegal activity.”
According to the head of the “Legal Initiative” Victoria Fedorova, these statements are unacceptable, grossly violate human rights, as well as the principle of the presumption of innocence, enshrined in Article 26 of the Constitution and in Article 16 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus.[3]
In June 2020, without explanation,[4] the author’s program “The Adventures of Captain Wrangel” with one of the famous Belarusian TV presenters Dmitry Wrangel (in 2009 he was declared the best TV presenter in the country)[5] was taken off the air, who had previously condemned the brutal Belarusian riot police detained buyers at the souvenir shop Symbal.by in Minsk. At the same time, the contract with Dmitry Wrangel was concluded until the end of 2020. According to the presenter, it was his civic position that caused the program to be taken off the air.[6] This happened after Stanyuta’s reaction to the brutal detentions of people in line at the Symbal.by store, which occurred on June 23.
In July 2020, the sports section of the “Our Morning” program on ONT, which was hosted on Mondays by the famous Belarusian gymnast, multiple medalist of the World and European Championships Melitina Staniuta, was taken off the air [11] . This happened after Stanyuta’s reaction to the brutal detentions of people in line at the Symbal.by store (Belorian)Russian)", which occurred on June 23.[7][8]
Also in July 2020, the popular TV presenter of the show “Luck in the bargain” Dmitry Kokhno was taken off the air, who also criticized the actions of riot police who harshly detained civilians standing in line at the store of Belarusian symbols Symbal.by.[9] The leader’s post against the actions of the Belarusian riot police was even quoted by the famous American publication The New York Times.[10][11]
Spread of misinformation
ONT has more than once been noticed in distributing misinformation, which are analyzed by the “Evil News” program on Belsat: “Polish television showed a map of the division of Ukraine”,[12] “Italy itself takes more than a quarter of the grain supplied to Europe. All these famous pizzas and pasta - where do they actually come from? From Russian wheat."[13] “In the European Union, due to quarrels with Russia, fuel prices have risen sharply. With the exception of those member countries that are friends with Moscow, contrary to the official position of the bloc. For such European friends of Russia, fuel prices, on the contrary, are falling.”[14] and others.
