On April 27 “Freedom House” international organization published its annual
global survey on freedom of press in 2005.
The media situation was assessed by “Freedom House” by assigning a numerical
score from 1 to 100 by the following categories: free (1-30 points), partly
free (31-60 points), not free (61-100) – the lower the score, the higher the
freedom. The latter was defined by three dimensions: legal environment in which
media operate; political influence on reporting and access to information; economic
pressure on the news content and dissemination. The sum of the three dimensions
yielded the cumulative rating of the media situation in each country.
Out of 194 countries and territories 73 (38%) were rated free, while 54 (28%)
were rated partly free and 67 (34%) were rated not free. 17% of the world’s
inhabitants live in countries that enjoy free press, 40% have a partly free
press and 43% have a not free press. The list is headed by Finland and Iceland
– 9 points each, followed by Denmark, Norway and Sweden – 10 points each.
“These findings are a source of real concern”, declared Jennifer Windsor, “Freedom
House” Executive Director. “We find particularly disturbing the deterioration
in press freedom in countries that had made overall democratic progress – including
in press freedom – in the past. We need to remain vigilant in noting the erosion
of press freedom in democratically-elected countries.”
The press of the three Baltic countries was recognized by “Freedom House” to
be free. Out of the other post-Soviet countries, only two – Georgia and Ukraine
– are classed by “Freedom House” as partly free, the rest remain not free, similarly
to 2004. Notably, the situation of Ukrainian media improved in 2005 (53 points
versus 59 in 2004) owing to “democratic achievements”, while that of Georgian
media somewhat worsened (57 versus 56 in 2004). Progress is noted in Kyrgyzstan
– 64 points (71 in 2004). The situation remained unchanged in Moldova (65 points),
Kazakhstan (75) and Turkmenistan (96), that was on the last place but one in
the “Freedom House” rating, being followed only by North Korea. As compared
to 2004, in 2005 the ratings of Russia (72 points versus 68), Azerbaijan (73
versus 72), Tajikistan (76 versus 74), Belarus (88 versus 86), Uzbekistan (90
versus 85) declined.
The rating of Armenia, similarly to the previous two years, did not change
– 64 points. Thus, the Armenian media for the fourth year already, since 2002,
are classed as not free by “Freedom House”.
The section of the survey on Armenia notes, in particular, that “throughout
the year the government sometimes limited constitutional protections for freedom
of the press”. The RA Law “On Fight Against Terrorism”, in force since 2005,
restricts media coverage of terrorism issues, notes the “Freedom House” study,
and the opinion of Yerevan Press Club is quoted that characterized the law as
“vague and open to abuse”. “The government has yet to decriminalize libel offenses”,
“Freedom House” believes: the Criminal Code allows imposing stricter sanctions,
up to imprisonments for insulting officials. At the same time, the report notes
that no libel cases were brought against journalists in 2005.
Despite the local pressure and Council of Europe recommendations, the broadcast
license of “A1+” TV company, deprived of air in 2002, was not renewed, “Freedom
House” stresses.
“Although there is a good amount of media diversity and pluralism, some major
broadcast media maintain progovernment bias, and there is no independent public
broadcaster. There is no official censorship; however, the president’s office
provides policy guidance, particularly for Public Television of Armenia (H1).
Expressing political opposition often results in prosecution, harassment and
intimidation”, “Freedom House” notes. Most journalists resorted to self-censorship
in covering controversial topics, such as corruption or issues involving Mountainous
Karabagh, the report says.
While most newspapers are privately owned, “they are dependent on support from
business conglomerates or political interests”. “Because of low print circulation,
television is the main provider of news and information. Economic pressure,
such as the use of official advertising to influence coverage was more common
than direct political pressure”, “Freedom House” believes.
Among the examples of pressure on journalists and media the report quotes an
incident with the ignition of the car of the Chief Editor of ”Syunyats Yerkir”
newspaper Samvel Alexanian and the closure of investigation on the similar case
of the editorial car of “Haikakаn Zhamanak” daily, as well as the clutter during
the broadcasts of the Radio “Free Europe”/Radio “Liberty” Armenian Service on
the day of the referendum on constitutional amendments (November 27) and the
subsequent days.
