OSCE MEDIA WATCHDOG NOTES IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMENIAN MEDIA LEGISLATION, CALLS FOR MORE PLURALISM
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)
June 21 2006
/noticias.info/ YEREVAN, 21 June 2006 – Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE
Representative on Freedom of the Media, said today that Armenia has
made significant progress in improving media legislation, but actual
media pluralism remained limited to the print media.
"I am pleased that since 2005 there have been very few atrocities
reported against journalists. It is similarly welcome that criminal
libel cases have not been initiated since several years," said
Haraszti, who was on a three-day official visit to Armenia at the
invitation of the Government.
"However, the coverage of political life still remains one-sided,
both in private and public-service broadcasting. This confines actual
pluralism to the diverse, at times even partisan, but economically
very weak print media."
The aim of the visit, co-organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
was to assess the state of freedom of the media, giving special
attention to the upcoming changes in the legal framework, required
by amendments to the Constitution adopted in November 2005.
The OSCE Representative expressed his appreciation for having been
received by President Robert Kocharian. He also met the Chairman of
the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan, and other government officials,
as well as broadcast operatives, journalists and media NGOs.
"We see good pieces of legislation, such as the Constitutional
amendments on broadcasting, and the Freedom of Information law," added
Mr. Haraszti. "However, implementation is behind the blueprints in
some fields. For example, the broadcast law reform required by the
Constitution is still missing, as are the implementation rules for
the law on Freedom of Information."
Haraszti suggested that pluralizing the composition of the
broadcasting boards would lead to diversity in the licensing of private
broadcasters, and to more objective news coverage in public television,
saying that: "Media reform should be accelerated, especially in view
of the upcoming elections."
The Representative on the Freedom of the Media regularly conducts
assessment visits in the OSCE region and presents his reports to the
Organization’s Permanent Council. The reports include an analysis of
the media situation and offer practical recommendations for improving
the freedom of the press.