PACE WILL ANALYSE MEDIA REFORM AND ITS IMPLICATION ON MEDIA PLURALISM

A1+
[04:26 pm] 24 December, 2008

"However, we would like to stress that the technical implications
of the introduction of digital broadcasting should not be used as a
pretext to delay unduly the holding of an open, fair and transparent
licensing tender, as requested by the Assembly," holds the report
Georges Colombier (France) and John Prescott (United Kingdom), the
co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) on the monitoring of Armenia’s obligations and commitments.

The draft resolution on the implementation by Armenia of Assembly
Resolutions 1609 (2008) and 1620 (2008) is already put into
circulation.

Georges Colombier and John Prescott, have drafted a 12-page document
on Armenia. The draft document refers to the recommendations of
Resolutions 1609 and 1620 and their implementation.

Special reference is made to the establishment, by Presidential decree,
of an expert fact-finding group to inquire into the events of March 1
and 2, 2008, as well as to diversity of media environment, amendments
and freedom of assemblies.

Below is an extract from the docuemnt iii. Media reform and pluralist
media environment 44. In Resolution 1609 (2008), the Assembly
considered that the independence from any political interest of both
the National Television and Radio Commission and the Public Television
and Radio Council must be guaranteed. In addition, the composition
of these bodies should be revised in order to ensure that they are
truly representative of the Armenian society.

45. In addition, in Resolution 1620 (2008), the Assembly recalled that
there is a need for a pluralistic media environment in Armenia and,
referring to the Strasbourg Court judgment concerning the denial of a
broadcasting licence to the A1+ channel, called upon the authorities
to now ensure an open, fair and transparent licensing procedure,
in line with the Guidelines adopted by the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe, on 26 March 2008, and with the case law of
the Court.

46. As mentioned in our previous report (Doc. 11656 (2008)), a public
hearing was organised by the National Assembly of Armenia on the
issue of media reform, with the participation of representatives of
the authorities, NGOs and opposition. This public hearing resulted
in a legislative package that was sent to the Council of Europe for
opinion, as well as to the establishment of a parliamentary working
group on the reform of the Law on Television and Radio.

47. Part of the legislative package concerns the implementation of
an open and transparent tender procedure for the composition of the
National Television and Radio Council and for the composition of
the Public Television and Radio Commission. This tender procedure
aims at ensuring the independence of the members and, as a result,
the work of these two bodies. The preliminary opinion of the Council
of Europe experts with regard to this new tender process is generally
positive. As noted in previous reports, the lack of independence of
these two main regulatory bodies for the media raises concerns about
possible government influence over the media that are regulated
by them. We therefore welcome the efforts of the authorities in
this respect. However, we note that the proposed amendments do
not explicitly stipulate that the two regulatory bodies should be
representative and reflect a broad cross-section of the Armenian
society. We would therefore recommend that further amendments are
made to the Law on TV in this respect.

48. On 9 September 2008, the National Assembly adopted an amendment
to the Law on Television and Radio that cancels all tenders for
broadcasting frequencies until 2010, when the introduction of digital
broadcasting in Armenia will have been completed. The amendment extends
the validity of all current licenses until January 2010. While the
government argues that the adoption of these amendments was needed
to address the technical requirements related to the introduction of
digital broadcasting, the opposition has decried these amendments as
an attempt to avoid the organisation of an open, fair and transparent
licensing procedure, as demanded by the Assembly, so as to keep A1+
off the air.

49. We take note of the ongoing discussions between the authorities,
the National Assembly, and Council of Europe experts with regard to
the proposed legislative reform package, as well as the already adopted
amendments to the Law on Television and Radio that cancel tenders for
broadcasting licenses until 2010. We understand that the Council of
Europe will provide an expert opinion on the revised amendments to the
Law on Television and Radio and is ready to provide a "spectrum expert"
to analyse the technical implications of the introduction of digital
broadcasting. In addition, the amendments to the Law on Television
and Radio with regard to the cancellation of tenders for broadcasting
licences was also discussed by the Committee of Ministers in December
2008, in the context of the discussion on the execution by Armenia
of the above-mentioned judgment of the Court in the case of A1+.

50. We do not wish to pre-empt the ongoing co-operation and discussions
on these issues between the Armenian authorities and the relevant
Council of Europe departments. We therefore intend to analyse in
extenso the media reform and its implications on the pluralism of the
media environment in our next report on Armenia in the framework of
the regular ongoing monitoring procedure of the Assembly. However,
we would like to stress that the technical implications of the
introduction of digital broadcasting should not be used as a pretext
to delay unduly the holding of an open, fair and transparent licensing
tender, as requested by the Assembly.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress