On October 25-27 in Tsaghkadzor "Media Self-Regulation and Effective Management" conference was held. The conference had been organized by Yerevan Press Club, the European Institute for the Media and IREX/ProMedia. The conference brought together the leaders of both the national and regional media, the representatives of journalistic associations.
The presentation of Professor Emeritus of Paris-2 University Claude-Jean Bertrand was dedicated to one of the most important components of journalism – the media ethics and accountability. YPC Expert Mesrop Harutyunyan spoke about the legal problems affecting the print journalism of Armenia. A representative of the National Union of Journalists of Ireland Ronan Brady shared with the participants the European experience of the press self-regulation. When telling about the role of the NGOs in the self-regulation of media, the Vice-President of the Russian Guild of Publishers Evgeny Abov stressed the urgent need for establishing a press council in his country. The Board Chairman of the Association of Editors-Publishers of Armenian Newspapers “Armenian Press”, the Chief Editor of "Respublika Armenia" newspaper Vardan Aloyan introduced the recently established Association, the main tasks of which is to set up an alternative media distribution network.
After the presentations of Chief Editors Aram Abrahamian ("Aravot" daily) and Hakob Avedikian ("Azg" daily) on how a press self-regulatory body can be developed in Armenia, the meeting participants were asked a question whether Armenian media need such a structure. The majority supported the necessity of media self-regulation, however they doubted the effectiveness of this initiative.
