On March 31 the U.S. Department of State released its annual report on human rights practices in different countries of the world in 2002, prepared by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
In the report on Armenia the situation of freedom of expression and press for the last year is described in almost the same words as in the similar report of the U.S. Department of State for 2001 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 9-15, 2002), namely: " while the Government generally respected freedom of speech, there were some limits on freedom of the press"; "publications presented a variety of views and the opposition press regularly criticized government policies and leaders, including the President, on sensitive issues such as the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and privatization"; "to avoid repetition of the retribution experienced in the past from powerful officials and other individuals, most journalists continued to practice self-censorship, particularly when reporting on major cases of corruption or national security issues"; "journalists remained cautious in their reporting, particularly about proceedings in the courtroom"; there was no censorship or restrictions on reception of satellite television and other foreign media, international newspapers and imported magazines; "the President’s office continued to influence state television news coverage significantly", while "private television stations offered independent news coverage of good technical quality", etc. As to the Public Television of Armenia, as the report for 2002 notes, it “took policy guidance from the Government", “presented mostly factual reporting but avoided editorial commentary or criticism of official actions".
By the assessment of the Department of State, the state publishing house and press distribution agency last year operated as commercial enterprises "with no visible government intervention". The print media themselves operated with very restricted resources and none of the newspapers was completely independent from the interests of economic, political groups or individuals. "Because of prevailing economic conditions, total newspaper circulation was small (40,000 copies, by the Yerevan Press Club’s estimates, or approximately one copy per 85 persons)", the report says.
"Opposition parties and politicians generally received adequate news coverage and access to broadcast media", the Department of State believes. "In the run-up to the 2003 presidential and legislative elections, they have continued to have free access to media coverage".
The process of licensing the broadcast media, in the opinion of the State Department, "is strictly governed by the 2000 Law on Broadcast Media, which appeared to be observed in practice, although it was not well understood by some sectors of the media or public".
The report also noted the joint work of the Parliament Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture and Youth Issues, Yerevan Press Club and "Internews" international NGO on the broadcast law. At the same time it was noted that while the amendments to the law passed in 2001 " met many previously expressed concerns by media and human rights groups regarding freedom of the media, it still contains loopholes that could be used to impose greater control on the media by government bodies".
The following incidents are quoted in the report as examples of freedom of expression and press violations: the assassination of the Chairman of Public TV and Radio Council Tigran Naghdalian on December 28 last year; the situation with "A1+" and "Noyan Tapan" TV companies, which were not issued broadcast licenses in April 2002; the grenade explosion in October last year that left the Deputy Director of Caucasus Media Institute Mark Grigorian with shrapnel wounds.
