ARMENIAN MEDIA WATCHDOG VOICES CONCERN OVER VIOLATIONS OF JOURNALISTS’ RIGHTS

Mediamax
Feb 24 2009
Armenia

Yerevan, 24 February: The Armenian Committee for Protecting Freedom
of Speech has registered 48 cases of violation of journalists’ rights
in 2008.

The chairman of the committee, Ashot Melikyan, said today that 2008
became a year of serious tests for Armenian journalists since the
aggravation of the political situation always leads to an increase of
pressure on the press. An expert of the committee, Mesrop Harutyunyan,
said that the indices of 2008 were compared with those of 2003 when
presidential election was also held in Armenia. In 2003, 25 cases of
violation of journalists’ rights were registered.

Mesrop Harutyunyan expressed discontent with the implementation of
a real censorship between 1 March and 20 March 2008 when a state of
emergency was imposed in the country. He said that "such censorship
had been absent in the Armenian media in the past 19 years".

Ashot Melikyan added that in connection with more frequent cases of
violation of journalists’ rights, the Committee for Protecting Freedom
of Speech intents to set up a rapid reaction group. He said that in
case journalists’ rights are violated, one will be able to contact the
"hot line" at +37493 107085.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress