State TV channel airs local newspaper's video without permission

Photo: Hazeta Slonimskaja
Photo: Hazeta Slonimskaja

Minsk-based state-owned TV channel STV aired Hazeta Slonimskaya’s video without permission and attribution. The video featured a stork living on the roof of Slonim Annunciation Nunnery.

 

The article Stork Settles Down On The Roof Of Orthodox Church was published on the website of Hazeta Slonimskaya on June 19. Then it was shown in the programme News 24 Hours on iat 4.30 p.m. on June 21. The TV channels replaced the audio stream.

It means that copyright is being ignored on a national scale, Hazeta Slonomskaya journalist told BAJ. Editor-in-chief of Hazeta Slonimskaya Victar Valadashchuk is yet to decide whether he will go to court.

Photographer and blogger Anton Matolka was in a similar situation earlier: the Belarusian State Broadcasting Company took his photo of the northern lights in Belarus without permission. Matolka sued the state tv company trying to defend his copyright. However, BT claimed that it had the right to use the images of social phenomena. The blogger lost the court battle.