Belarusian Telegraph Agency

The first independent informational organization in Belarus was established on 23 December 1918, as a regional department of the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA), abbreviated as BELOTROSTA.^[4] Its primary objective was to inform the world about the formation of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia, which occurred on 1 January 1919.^[4] Yuri Samoylovich Volin was appointed as its director.^[5] However, this organization struggled to launch successfully, existing for only a few months^[6] due to the Russian Civil War,^[7] and little information is available regarding that period.^[8]

The second attempt to launch happened on 14 January 1921, by order from Moscow, under the name of BelROSTA as a regional department of ROSTA.^[8] Vitold Frantsevich Akhramovich^[a] was appointed as the director, who was replaced by Solomon Alexandrovich Levinson in the summer.^[5] Most of the initial few dozen^[5] correspondents had no professional experience and learned on the fly.^[7] BelROSTA prepared daily bulletins for the Republic's newspapers and wrote speeches proclaimed daily in factories and to troops.^[4] Another key task was to inform Moscow about events in Belarus and neighboring Poland.^[8] Although Levinson died in December 1921, his cadres laid the foundation for the organization's future.^[10]

On 18 January 1924, BelROSTA was reorganized into the Belarusian branch of the Union Commercial Telegraph Agency (BelCTA). Its main task was to cover the New Economic Policy, the reconstruction of the Soviet Union and related economic matters.^[10] In 1927, it employed 21 people,^[10] though most documents from that period didn't survive.^[11]

On 7 March 1931, BelCTA was reorganized into the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, or BelTA, the name it's known by today. While subordinate to the government of the Byelorussian SSR,^[10] it was also part of the TASS system.^[8] By 1932, BelTA had three editorial departments: one held a monopoly on covering information from the republican government,^[5] another for local news, and a third, which was required to operate in Belarusian, was responsible for relaying information from the TASS.^[12] It operated as a khozraschet organization, meaning it had to pay TASS for materials and for the local telegraph services used to receive them. In turn, BelTA sold its content to local newspapers.^[13] In the early 1930s, it had over 90 correspondents, most of whom were not on staff^[5] spread across 37 locations.^[14] BelTA experienced high staff turnover, with seven directors changing over nine years leading up to 1941.^[10]

Upon the German invasion of the Soviet Union, BelTA evacuated from Minsk and temporarily ceased operations. An attempt was made to revive it in July 1942 with a staff of 14 people,^[15] though without a director,^[16] but it ceased functioning again in 1943.^[15]

BelTA was re-established on 22 February 1944, becoming the main information agency of the Belarusian SSR.^[15] The first director, then working as a journalist in Arkhangelsk, was appointed by TASS.^[16] Following the war, the agency largely was staffed with former soldiers and partisans, supplemented by volunteers from Arkhangelsk.^[16] This resulted in a severe shortage of qualified personnel, with the director estimating that only two reporters had even "average" qualifications.^[17] By 1946, BelTA's staff had grown to 124 people, including 37 correspondents,^[18] all of whom required a recommendation from either TASS or the Communist Party of Byelorussia for appointment.^[16] Due to the severe destruction in Belarus, BelTA initially lacked sufficient equipment, possessing only five teleprinters, all of which were trophies from Germany. In 1950, it acquired more from Berlin.^[8]

By 1953, BelTA employed approximately 90 people.^[19] Fedor Kletskov became its director in 1955, serving for nearly 16 years—the longest tenure in the agency's history.^[18] In 1960, the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian SSR adopted a new statute for BelTA, solidifying its role as the main informational agency of the Republic.^[20]

In 1971–1972, BelTA underwent further reorganization, obtaining the status of a Republican State Committee. This period brought a new statute, a change in leadership, and significant personnel shifts.^[21] Among the important changes, BelTA was now explicitly tasked with ideological work, such as exposing the "aggressive politics of imperialism" and glorifying the successes of "Leninist national politics."^[22] In the mid-1970s, BelTA had 22 correspondents^[22] and published 1,460 newspaper pages monthly.^[23]

During glasnost and perestroika, BelTA reverted to khozraschet and covered the political transformation of the Soviet Union. As the media landscape evolved, it faced competition from newly emerging news agencies, alongside accusations of bias and threats from a variety of political factions.^[24]

During the Soviet times BelTA cooperated with the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS), although it was legally independent of it.

After the USSR ceased to exist in 1991, BelTA has been the national news agency of Belarus. It transmits over a hundred daily reports, and provides information to other news agencies of Commonwealth of Independent States members about the activities of Belarusian officials and organizations in and out of the country.

BelTA has offices in all regions of Belarus, as well as abroad. The main office is in Minsk.