On November 11 another program of “Press Club” cycle was broadcast by “Yerkir Media” TV company. The “Press Club” talk-show cycle deals with journalism ethics and is produced by Yerevan Press Club in frames of the “Promoting Freedom, Professionalism and Pluralism of the Media in the South Caucasus and Moldova” programme, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe.
The talk-show focused on the article “To Know Pharaoh”, which was published on April 9, 2011 in “Chorrord Inknishkhanutiun” daily and criticized the Head of the Armenia National Art Gallery Paravon Mirzoyan. The latter one had contested the piece, lodging a lawsuit on libel and insult versus “Chorrord Inknishkhanutiun” founder. The expert judgment of the Council on Information Disputes noted that the conflict is rather an ethical matter than a legal one. The founder of the daily hade addressed the Media Ethics Observatory for an expert conclusion on the contested piece (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, October 28 – November 3, 2011). On “Press Club” the dispute parties, Head of the National Art Gallery Paravon Mirzoyan and Gohar Vezirian, correspondent of “Chorrord Inknishkhanutiun”, presented their arguments. The talk-show experts were YPC President Boris Navasardian, Aram Abrahamian, Chief Editor of “Aravot” daily, Olga Safarian, lawyer of Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, and Tarmu Tammerk, CoE expert, Ombudsman of Estonia Public Television. The discourse was led by Shushan Doydoyan, Head of the Freedom of Information Center. The experts concluded that in such matters libel, insult need to be differentiated from value judgments, journalists’ opinions; besides, the given dispute may be set out of court.
The next “Press Club” show will be on the air of “Yerkir Media” on Friday, November 18 at 18.35 (rerun – on Tuesday, November 22 at 14.15).
Watch “Press Club” of November 11, 2011 here
