On December 14-16, Yerevan Press Club held a seminar “The Current Situation and Perspectives of State Regulation and Self-Regulation of Armenian Media” in Aghveran, Kotayk region. The event was organized in the frames of “Alternative Resources in Media” project, supported by USAID. The seminar participants were members of the Media Ethics Observatory (MEO), heads, representatives of media outlets and journalistic organizations, including the ones who supported the YPC initiative of forming a media self-regulatory system in Armenia.
The themes for discussion were activities of the MEO in 2012 and the perspectives of online and traditional media self-regulation; suggestions for amending the Code of Conduct of Media Representatives; the court practice on the implementation of the RA legislation on libel and insult; the experience of self-regulatory bodies in other countries.
The Media Ethics Observatory was formed on March 10, 2007 by the heads of Armenian media, who supported the YPC initiative on establishing a self-regulation system in Armenia and signed the Code of Conduct of Media Representatives and its Appendix, the Declaration on Election and Referendum Coverage Principles. The mission of the MEO considers complaints and appeals regarding the violations of the Code of Conduct of Media Representatives and making judgments on these. As of today, the Code of Conduct and the Declaration are signed by 45 entities, representing 48 Armenian media; the initiative is supported by 9 journalistic associations (see details at https://www.ypc.am/self_regul/ln/eng). The MEO contacts are: [email protected]; Tel. +374 10 53 76 62, 53 35 41, 53 00 67; Fax +374 10 53 56 61. Complaints and applications to MEO can also be addressed online, by filling out the form in Armenian on https://www.ypc.am/self_regul/ln/am#form.
