YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 27 – MARCH 5, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION
THE PUBLICATION OF "HAYK" DAILY HAS RESUMED
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND PRESS IN ARMENIA IN 2008
THE ARMENIAN JOURNALIST WINS "FREE PRESS OF EASTERN EUROPE" PRIZE
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
On February 28, another "Press Club" show went on the air of "Yerkir Media"
TV company. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project,
supported by the Open Society Institute Human Rights and Governance Grants
Program. The guests of the journalist Tsovinar Nazarian were the Head of
"Cooperation for Democracy" Center Stepan Danielian, publicist Hrant
Ter-Abrahamian and expert in culture studies Armineh Babian. The discussion
focused on the amendments to the RA Law "On Freedom of Conscience and
Religious Organizations", included in the agenda of the spring session of
the RA National Assembly.
The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Saturday,
March 7, at 17.40.
THE PUBLICATION OF "HAYK" DAILY HAS RESUMED
On February 28, the publication of "Hayk" daily resumed. As it has been
reported, the issue of the daily was suspended from February 20 due to the
arrest of the newspaper’s property and assets. The arrest was applied on
February 19, as a measure to secure the suit filed the day before by "Gind"
publishing house with the Yerevan Civil Court versus the newspaper founder,
"Hayk Editorial Office" LLC. The plaintiff demanded to pay the debts for the
publishing expenses. On February 23, as a result of negotiations between the
daily and the publishing house, "Gind" revoked its suit upon the condition
of "Hayk" repaying the dept till April 1, 2009 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter,
February 20-26, 2009). After the process of release of the property and the
assets, the "Hayk" resumed publication at "A. Markosian" printing house,
where it had moved since February 9.
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND PRESS IN ARMENIA IN 2008
On February 25 the US Department of State released country report on human
rights practices in different countries of the world in 2008, prepared by
the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
Addressing the freedom of speech and press situation in Armenia, the US
Department of State noted in particular that "the Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but the government generally did
not respect these rights in practice" and "there were incidents of violence,
intimidation, and self-censorship in the press". The report also says about
"progovernment and antiopposition media bias" in the run-up to the
presidential election; censorship and suspended freedom of speech and press
during the state of emergency on March 1-21, 2008; lack of political
diversity, particularly on television; the adopted amendments to the RA Law
"On Television and Radio" imposing a two-year moratorium on the issuance of
new television and radio broadcasting licenses, and "further reducing
prospects for greater media pluralism".
In the opinion of the report authors, except during the state of emergency
period, "the print media generally expressed a wide variety of views without
restriction, but remained influenced by economic or political interest
groups or individuals". "The authorities continued to make unscheduled tax
inspections of independent and opposition media, which local observers
viewed as attempts to stifle the press", the report notes. "Most stations
were owned by progovernment politicians or well-connected businessmen,
factors that prompted journalists working for these stations to practice
self-censorship. Major broadcast media outlets generally expressed
progovernment views and avoided editorial comment or reporting critical of
the government. This was especially the case during the presidential
election campaign and the protests and state of emergency that followed the
election", the report says. In particular, the US Department of State noted
that during the presidential election campaign "the broadcast media
displayed bias in favor of the official candidate, and eventual winner,
then-prime minister Serzh Sargsian".
Neither the Central Election Commission (CEC) nor the National Commission on
Television and Radio (NCTR) "fulfilled their statutory obligations to ensure
equality and objectivity of media coverage towards candidates", the report
authors stressed and reminded about the RA Constitutional Court ruling of
March 8, 2008, which states that "the CEC neglected to exert effective
control over preelection promotion" and that the NCTR "displayed a
formalistic approach to complying with the law. As a result, media coverage
displayed not only partiality but also, in some cases, violations of legal
and ethical norms". "Nevertheless, the US State Department notes, the court
found that no sanctions or remedies were warranted because the candidates
were able to present their platforms to voters by other means of preelection
promotion."
By describing the situation during the state of emergency on March 1-21, the
report notes that censorship was imposed and freedom of speech and media
were severely restricted: "all opposition media, all Web sites critical of
the government, and several days of broadcasts of Radio Liberty " were
closed. However, the decree on state of emergency did not "prevent other
print and broadcast media from airing strident criticism and unfounded
charges against the political opposition and its leaders", the report
stresses and cites the statement of RA Human Rights Defender Armen
Harutiunian which notes that "a most vivid example of such unacceptable
coverage was demonstrated by the First Channel of the Public Television of
Armenia". "While the state of emergency decree applied only to Yerevan,
there were numerous reports of the severe media restrictions being imposed
in many other parts of the country", the report says.
The US State Department also lists the incidents with the media
representatives that occurred in 2008: the arson attempt of Journalists Club
of Gyumri on January 19 and the arson of "Asparez" president’s car on March
21; the detention of "Asparez" Board Chairman Levon Barseghian at a rally on
March 2 in Gyumri; cases of impeding professional activities of journalists
on the day of presidential election, on February 19, at post electoral
period and after state of emergency. The report cites the assaults on
journalists by persons whose identity remains unknown: on August 11, on
correspondent of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily, Lusine Barseghian; on August 18,
on acting head of Yerevan office of the Armenian Service of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty Hrach Melkumian; on November 17, on Chairman of
"Investigative Journalists" NGO Edik Baghdasarian.
The report reminds about the pressure exerted on "Gala" TV Company of
Gyumri, "simultaneously from tax auditors, broadcast regulators, and
municipal authorities". In particular, the report cites the court ruling of
March 19 on the suit of Gyumri Tax Inspection versus the "Gala" founder on
tax fines levy.
The report of the US State Department paid attention to the European Court
of Human Rights judgment of June 17, recognizing the refusals to grant a
broadcast license to "A1+" TV company founder as a violation of Article 10
of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, i.e.,
of the right of the applicant to freely impart information and ideas. The
report reminds that "A1+" still remains without a broadcast license. The
amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio" adopted by the parliament
on September 10 imposed a moratorium until July 2010 on the broadcast
licensing competitions. Independent media, media analysts, and NGOs viewed
the amendments as an effort to block issuance of a license to "A1+", the
report notes. The report cites the letter of OSCE Representative on Freedom
of the Media Miklos Haraszti, urging the Armenian authorities to revoke the
broadcast licensing moratorium which means that Armenia will not be able to
comply with the decision of the European Court on the case of "A1+".
The report also emphasized the continuing detention of Arman Babajanian, the
Chief Editor of "Zhamanak-Yerevan" newspaper, convicted in September 2006
for document fraud to evade military service. This report, like the one of
2007, also refers to Arman Babajanian in the section on Political Prisoners
and Detainees.
THE ARMENIAN JOURNALIST WINS "FREE PRESS OF EASTERN EUROPE" PRIZE
The Freedom of Expression Foundation of Oslo and the Ebelin and Gerd
Bucerius "ZEIT" Foundation have announced the winners of the "Free Press of
Russia" and "Free Press of Eastern Europe" prizes for 2009. Three newspapers
from Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia, and four journalists from Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Russia became the laureates of the awards. Marianna
Grigorian, a free-lance journalist from Yerevan, is among the winners.
The annual Gerd Bucerius Prize "Free Press of Eastern Europe" was
established by the "ZEIT" Foundation in 2000 for the encouragement of "those
journalists who despite official pressures and economic difficulties defy
censorship in all its manifestations including self-censorship". Since 2004,
the Gerd Bucerius Prize is awarded in cooperation with the Norwegian Freedom
of Expression Foundation.
The award ceremony will be held on June 3, 2009 at the Norwegian Nobel
Institute of Oslo.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
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