STATEMENT OF YEREVAN PRESS CLUB AND JOURNALISTS UNION OF ARMENIA
On October 31, 2002 the ordinary issue of “Aravot” daily did not reach the readers. By our information, the print run of the daily was handed to “Haymamul” Dissemination Agency, but later “disappeared”. “Aravot” was not received either by the newspaper stands of the Agency, the subscribers or other distribution agencies who get their share of periodicals from “Haymamul”.
The disruption of dissemination of the newspaper is a grave infringement of the right to information receipt, which is breach of Article 24 of the RA Constitution and the international agreements adhered to by Armenia.
We qualify this as an offence and demand the law and order bodies to disclose and punish those who are guilty in this.
Yerevan Press Club
Journalists Union of Armenia
October 31, 2002
“MEDIA SELF-REGULATION AND EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT” CONFERENCE HELD
On October 25-27 in Tsaghkadzor “Media Self-Regulation and Effective Management” conference was held. The conference had been organized by Yerevan Press Club, the European Institute for the Media and IREX/ProMedia. The conference brought together the leaders of both the national and regional media, the representatives of journalistic associations.
The presentation of Professor Emeritus of Paris-2 University Claude-Jean Bertrand was dedicated to one of the most important components of journalism – the media ethics and accountability. YPC Expert Mesrop Harutyunyan spoke about the legal problems affecting the print journalism of Armenia. A representative of the National Union of Journalists of Ireland Ronan Brady shared with the participants the European experience of the press self-regulation. When telling about the role of the NGOs in the self-regulation of media, the Vice-President of the Russian Guild of Publishers Evgeny Abov stressed the urgent need for establishing a press council in his country. The Board Chairman of the Association of Editors-Publishers of Armenian Newspapers “Armenian Press”, the Chief Editor of “Respublika Armenia” newspaper Vardan Aloyan introduced the recently established Association, the main tasks of which is to set up an alternative media distribution network.
After the presentations of Chief Editors Aram Abrahamian (“Aravot” daily) and Hakob Avedikian (“Azg” daily) on how a press self-regulatory body can be developed in Armenia, the meeting participants were asked a question whether Armenian media need such a structure. The majority supported the necessity of media self-regulation, however they doubted the effectiveness of this initiative.
“HAIKAKAN ZHAMANAK” EMPLOYEE ASSAULTED
On October 29 the Department of Public Relations and Information of the RA Ministry of Interior Affairs published a statement in a number of newspapers under the title of “Write the Truth”. The statement said in particular that three hours after the incident the law and order bodies received the signal about it from the hospital where the injured man was taken. Several hours later the participants of the incident were discovered – 16-year-old Ashot Ustabashian and two 13-year-old teenagers, one of them being a student of Gegham Nazarian (who teaches geography at school). According to Ustabashian, he asked a passer-by for matches rudely and received an equally rude answer from the latter. During the scuffle, which ensued, Ustabashian pushed the passer-by, who fell down and hit his head at the pavement. “Expressing our regret on the incident, we at the same time think it necessary to note that “Haikakan Zhamanak”, as its habit goes, distorted the facts and gave quite a different context to the incident”, the statement emphasizes.
The next day, on October 30 “Haikakan Zhamanak” made a response to the statement. In the opinion of the edition, the tone of the statement is quite unsuitable, since “our publication was quite reticent and the statement that followed was nervous”. The daily expressed its amazement at the fact that while refuting the publication in “Haikakan Zhamanak”, the Interior Ministry proceeded from the narration of an initiator of the assault and not on that of the injured party. The newspaper also informed that the details of the crime as presented in the statement are not valid: the journalist was assaulted by two individuals, and the 13-year-olds mentioned had nothing to do with the incident at all. “The comparison of the facts induces us to assume that the incident is a provocation organized against “Haikakan Zhamanak”. And the answer of the Interior Ministry allows to put forth the following hypothesis: apparently, the provocation was prepared by the Ministry of interior Affairs itself (…)”, the editorial staff of “Haikakan Zhamanak” claims.
A DECISION ON SUBSIDIES TO NON-STATE MEDIA PASSED
On October 24 the Government of Armenia passed a decision of allocating 40 million drams annually under “Subsidization of non-state press” program. According to the decision passed, about 40 editions in the capital and the regions will be subsidized. Among them are also the media of national minorities.
THE ISSUANCE OF “PRESS CLUB” WEEKLY ELECTRONIC BULLETIN RECOMMENCED
Since October 28 the issuance of “Press Club” weekly electronic Bulletin was recommenced. The joint regional edition of Yerevan Press Club, “Yeni Nesil” Journalists Union of Azerbaijan and “BS Press” Association (Georgia) is published under “South Caucasus Network for Civil Accord” project supported by the European Commission. The six-month pause was due to suspension of the project for technical reasons.
Issued since October 2001, “Press Club” covers the performance of civil institutions of South Caucasus and international organizations aimed to arrive at accord and partnership in the region. Initially – since December 1999 – the edition was published under the trilateral project “NGO and Media: Civil Participation” of YPC, “Yeni Nesil” and Tbilisi Press Club supported by Eurasia Foundation’s Caucasus Synergy Program.
