On January 9 the Media Ethics Observatory considered the complaint of two members
of the RA State Commission on the Protection of Economic Competition regarding
“We are Becoming Like European Countries” article, published in “Aravot” daily
on December 11, 2008. The article was dealing with one of the sessions of the
Commission on the Protection of Economic Competition. In the opinion of the
complaining party, the article contained factual mistakes, and the professionalism
of the Commission members was unreasonably questioned. The Media Ethics Observatory
acted as an intermediary in resolving the dispute, offering “Aravot” to publish
a response. The response of the Commission members was published in “Aravot”
on January 14, 2009.
Media Ethics Observatory was established on March 10, 2007 by the heads of
Armenian media who supported the self-regulation initiative of Yerevan Press
Club (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 9-15, 2007). The mission
of the MEO is to consider the complaints about violations of the Code of Conduct
of Media Representatives and make judgments on them. As of today, the Code of
Conduct and the supplement to it, the Declaration of Election and Referenda
Coverage Principles, have been signed by 35 media. The initiative is supported
also by 8 journalistic associations.
