In late 2007 three publications were produced by Yerevan Press Club: “Karabagh
Issue and Armenian-Turkish Relations in the Pre-Election Rhetoric of Armenian
Political Figures”, “Media and Elections”, “Media Self-Regulation: First Steps
in Armenia”.
“Karabagh Issue and Armenian-Turkish Relations in the Pre-Election Rhetoric
of Armenian Political Figures” book analyzes the findings of monitoring on coverage
of the Mountainous Karabagh problem and Armenian-Turkish relations in 7 print
media of Armenia during the election campaign for the RA National Assembly (April-May
2007). One of the main tasks of the research was to determine the completeness
and adequacy of the press reflection of the stances of parties, running for
seats in the parliament, on the two important issues on the foreign policy agenda
of Armenia. Besides, a number of adjacent issues were studied: the specifics
of the press coverage of Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations;
the accuracy and reliability of the information published; the existence of
ideas and proposals regarding the normalization of Armenia’s relations with
the neighbor countries in the statements of the politicians and in articles,
etc. The book is published in Armenian, English and Russian languages (within
one cover) with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
“Media and Elections” book is a certain manual for journalists covering election
campaigns. It, in particular, presents the provisions of the RA Constitution
on freedom of expression and clauses of RA legislation on pre-election promotion;
Recommendation R (99)15 of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers of September
9, 1999, on Measures concerning Media Coverage of Election Campaigns and its
Appendix; fragments from the final reports of the OSCE/ODIHR observation missions
concerning the media activities during the Armenian parliament and presidential
elections of 2003 and parliament elections of 2007; reports of Yerevan Press
Club on monitoring the Armenian media coverage during the election campaigns
for the RA National Assembly and the elections of the RA President in 2003,
as well as the report of the “TEAM” Research Center and YPC on monitoring the
Armenian media coverage of the parliamentary elections of 2007.
“Media Self-Regulation: First Steps in Armenia” contains materials on the activities
of the Media Ethics Observatory since its foundation on March 10, 2007. The
brochure includes the Code of Conduct of Media Representatives and its appendix,
the Declaration on Election and Referendum Coverage Principles; the list of
media who signed the documents; the composition of the MEO and its judgments.
Both books mentioned are published in Armenian language with the support of
the Open Society Institute.
All three publications will soon be placed on YPC web-site www.ypc.am
