On October 23-24 at the Yerevan State University (YSU) a scientific conference titled “The Trends of Development of Modern Armenian Media” was held. The Conference was organized by Yerevan Press Club and the YSU Department of Journalism under the YPC project “Development of Professional Media in Armenia and Their Integration into the International Information Environment”, supported by the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation-Armenia.
The presentations made by the professors and graduate students of YSU Journalism Department and YPC experts were devoted to such essential subjects as the establishment and the development of media market in Armenia, the changes in the media audience, the journalistic ethics and education, the new information technologies. The discussions were marked by active involvement of not only the representatives of Armenian media and experts, but also of students of the Journalism Department. It was noted, in particular, that during the 10 years of the independence of Armenia, the process of media market establishment, the introduction of new technologies into the informational environment are slow to evolve. The reduction of the media audience is associated primarily with the decreased living standard of the consumers. The freedom of expression is often interpreted as permissiveness, and the norms of journalistic ethics are not observed.
