On February 17 another program of “Press Club” cycle, dealing with journalism ethics, was aired on “Yerkir Media” TV company. The talk show series are produced by Yerevan Press Club under “Alternative Resources in Media” project, supported by USAID.
The talk show dealt with the ethics of covering accidents, suicides and other tragic events that hurt people. This is one of the acute issues of Armenian journalism: when reporting on a tragic event, media usually present detailed personal data, neglecting the feelings of the victim’s relatives as well as the presumption of innocence. The “Press Club” discussion particularly centered on the complaint addressed on February 8 to the Media Ethics Observatory regarding the photo story on a suicide in Yerevan, placed on “Aravot” website (www.aravot.am). The reportage was a hot pursuit, identified the victim’s name, surname, age, etc., and was accompanied with photos from the occurrence site. The complaint to MEO stressed that the piece was an added pain for the victim’s family, especially his children. Gagik Shamshian, author of the photo story, and Heriknaz Harutiunian, Editor of Yerevan Press Club, presented their positions at the talk show. The “Press Club” experts were Tatyana Hovhannisian, Director of “International Journalism” Scientific and Educational Center at Yerevan Brusov State Linguistic University, psychologist Gagik Tadevosian, lawyer Ara Ghazarian, and journalist and writer Mesrop Harutiunian. YPC President Boris Navasardian hosted the program.
The next “Press Club” will be aired on “Yerkir Media” on Friday, February 24 at 18.35 (rerun – on Tuesday, February 28 at 14.15).
Watch “Press Club” of February 17, 2012 here
