On January 21 the Journalists Union of Armenia hosted a press conference, where
the professional associations of the country presented their activities during
the presidential elections.
The Expert of Yerevan Press Club Mesrop Harutyunyan informed that YPC started
quantitative monitoring of the media coverage of the presidential elections
in 2003.
The monitoring covers the period of official election campaign (January 21
– February 17, 2003) and aims at determining, by means of quantitative data
received, how free and unprejudiced the media of the country are in informing
the voters about the elections and candidates, whether the legislative framework
and the state structures facilitated the mission of the media (primarily the
public and state-owned ones) of ensuring free, fair and transparent elections,
and, finally, to what extent the media were ensuring the compliance of Armenia
with international commitments (in particular, those to the Council of Europe)
with regard to election campaign coverage. The object of the YPC study is the
whole air time and newspaper space of 27 Armenian media: 4 national and 5 local
TV companies, 1 national radio company, 14 national and 3 local newspapers.
The preliminary and final results of the research will be introduced to the
public.
The representative of the Caucasus Media Institute told that during the election
campaign this organization will undertake a qualitative monitoring, which includes,
in particular, interviewing the leaders of the mainstream Armenian media, the
RA presidency candidates. The compliance of the media with the electoral legislation
will also be monitored.
The Chairwoman of the Journalists Union of Armenia Astghik Gevorgian presented
the JUA initiatives, aimed at providing assistance to media and journalists
during the elections. Thus, the International Press Center established adjacently
to JUA will provide the “fourth estate” with all the necessary materials
and information, organize press-conferences, meetings with presidency candidates,
the heads of their campaign staffs, CEC representatives.
