On January 27 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 the “Alternative Resources in Media” project, supported by USAID.
The topic of the talk show was the transfer from Gyumri to Yerevan of the two frescoes by famous Armenian painter Minas Avetisian. The respective governmental decision was passed on April 28, 2011 and induced a wide public protest and numerous actions in Gyumri. On June 11-16, 2011 the articles “Struck the Family Capital”, “Arman Avetisian Is Lying for Unknown Reasons”, “Some Things Cannot Be Forgiven” were placed on website of “Asparez” Journalists Club of Gyumri (www.asparez.am). The pieces contained critics about Arman Avetisian, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of “Minas Avetisian” Charitable Foundation, one of the sons of the painter. On August 4, 2011 Arman Avetisian filed a suit versus Levon Barseghian, Board Chairman of “Asparez”. The plaintiff demanded to oblige Levon Barseghian to present apologies, publish a refutation and the court ruling, compensate the damage for libel and insult in the amount of 2 million AMD (about $ 5,500), as well as the court expenses of 200,000 AMD (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 8-15, 2011).
In “Press Club” the conflict parties – Arman Avetisian and Levon Barseghian presented their positions. The experts of the program were Shushan Doydoyan, President of Freedom of Information Center, lawyer Ara Ghazarian, Nouneh Sarkissian, Managing Director of Internews Media Support NGO, media expert Mesrop Harutiunian. YPC President Boris Navasardian led the discourse. The aspects of the dispute, including expressions alleged as defamatory and insulting by the plaintiff, were observed at the TV show. The conflict party were suggested coming to an amicable agreement or set the dispute out of court.
The next “Press Club” talk show will be aired on “Yerkir Media” on Friday, February 3 at 18.35 (rerun – on Tuesday, February 7 at 14.15).
Watch “Press Club” of January 27, 2012 here
