3 May, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee has decided to establish a unified regional socio-political newspaper "Vitebskiye Vesti", the Ideological Work Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent.
The editorial office of the regional newspaper "Vitebskiye Vesti" has been reorganised by merging the editorial offices of the regional newspapers "Vitsebski Rabochy" and "Narodnaya Slova". The Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee has acted as the founder of the new newspaper, and the Ideological Work Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee has been designated as the management body. The first issue of "Vitebskiye Vesti" will be released on 1 July 2013. The publication will maintain its frequency (3 times a week). It is planned that the number of pages will be 8 on Tuesdays, 24 on Thursdays, and 16 on Saturdays.
The main goal of the new newspaper is to create a high-quality, professional information product that will eliminate information duplication. "The merged team will adopt the best traditions and experience accumulated by generations of journalists from "Vitsebski Rabochy" and "Narodnaya Slova" and transfer them to the new publication, as well as find its own creative style and themes that will not only retain the readership of the current regional newspapers but also win a new audience for "Vitebskiye Vesti"," the department emphasised.
Currently, over 60 periodic print publications are registered in the region's information field, including 25 state socio-political newspapers.
In recent years, regional state press has made significant progress in terms of content, information density, and design. For the most part, these are modern publications, with a total circulation in the Vitebsk region at the beginning of 2013 exceeding 165,000 copies. Each of the regional newspapers in the Vitebsk region has its own website. This platform primarily hosts operational information and news, while print versions feature journalistic investigations, essays, and analytical articles. "Regional press will continue to develop in this direction, striving to shape the worldview and moral principles of the citizens of our state, and to defend their interests," the Regional Executive Committee emphasised. It was noted that such tasks, along with the need to optimise state media, were outlined by the Head of State in his Address to the Belarusian People and the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on 21 April.-0-