UNDP AWARDS GRANTS TO 4 TV COMPANIES TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE PROGRAMS ON CORRUPTION ISSUES
Armradio.am
20.03.2007 14:39
Today UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Consuelo Vidal concluded
Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) for provision of grant funds with,
Lori TV LLC (Vanadzor, Lori marz), Media Center Ltd. (Yerevan),
Hrazdan TV Company (Hrazdan, Kotayq marz), and STV1 Television Edition
(Sevan, Gegharkunik marz) – the four finalist TV companies to develop
and broadcast TV programmes on corruption issues.
The winners of this initiative were selected through a competition open
to TV stations and individual journalists or groups of journalists. The
selected winners were those who articulated a well formulated,
thought provoking plan and demonstrated an ability to implement it.
The goals of the competition are: 1) To strengthen media’s capacity
to monitor and report on corruption issues, thus contributing to the
fight against corruption; 2) To air TV programs to serve as a source
of information, discussion of issues, allowing the viewer to form
his or her own opinions about the subject under discussion; and 3)
To raise the population’s awareness of corruption issues in Armenia
in order that better-informed viewers may have a better understanding
of, greater involvement in, and greater impact on, the fight against
corruption.
Ms. Vidal said in her remarks to the winners that: "UNDP is pursuing
a new, innovative approach. The purpose of the grant competition
is to motivate broadcast companies and journalists to come up with
new, thought provoking ways to address issues of particular concern
to Armenia. We have begun this pilot within our anti-corruption
activities as we have a particular focus on strengthening the capacity
of the media in this field. We hope the Armenian public will find
the productions interesting, and that the broadcasts will motivate
all members of society to fight corruption."
This activity is part of UNDP’s project on "Strengthening Awareness and
Response in Exposure of Corruption in Armenia", which UNDP implements
in cooperation with the Government of Armenia. The project aims at
strengthening the institutional capacity of government and civil
society organizations to effectively participate in anti-corruption
initiatives.