On April 11 at an extraordinary session of the RA National Assembly voting on the draft RA Law "On Mass Communication" was held. As it has been reported, this document, having caused much discontent of the "fourth estate" since the very first days of its existence, was submitted to the consideration of the Parliament on March 26. Yet the draft was not voted due to lack of quorum. This time the document was not passed in the first hearing since it did not get the sufficient quantity of votes.
The National Press Club and a number of media continued the protest actions, that started since the introduction of the draft into the Parliament’s agenda. Pickets at the NA houses were held, and posters with an appeal "No to Censorship! Remove the Draft Law ‘On Mass Communication’ from Circulation!” were raised.
The position of Yerevan Press Club also remains unchanged: the tense political situation and the serious objections made by the journalistic community on some of the provisions of the draft "On Mass Communication" give sufficient ground for not adopting the document presently (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 22 – April 4, 2003).
