Poland’s crisis becomes a propaganda bonanza for Lukashenka’s media

Examples of publications 

Examples of publications  / Euroradio/Claude

Аfter the crisis around Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal began on 30 October, former political prisoner Andrzej Poczobut warned that it was causing an “explosion of joy and satisfaction” among Belarusian and Russian propaganda outlets. Euroradio downloaded and analysed more than 1,200 posts from the Telegram channels of the state news agency BelTA, the state TV network ONT and the popular pro-government channel “Zheltye slivy” (ZhS Premium) to test his claim. He was right.

The crisis began on the evening of 30 October, when the Tribunal’s website announced the suspension of its chairman and vice-chair and police cordoned off the building. President Karol Nawrocki called it a violent seizure of the court; Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was restoring the rule of law after years of PiS rule.

Between 30 October and the afternoon of 3 November, each of the three channels published between two and ten times more Poland-related posts than in the preceding five days (25–29 October).

Of the posts with text, the Tribunal crisis accounts for nearly one in five (19%) in “Zheltye slivy”. ONT and BelTA publish far more news overall, so the share was about 5% and 3%, respectively.

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