HETQ EDITOR – "WHEN WE ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, THE GOVERNMENT IS TIGHT-LIPPED"
Natasha Harutyunyan

n/
2010/03/03 | 15:52

media

Speaking at a press conference today on the state of journalism in
Armenia, Hetq Chief Editor Edik Baghdasaryan noted that the "yellow
press" existed throughout the world and that the greater diversity
of the press, the better.

"There is much talk today about some papers violating ethical norms.

But there are such violations in Great Britain, France and the United
States, and it has never been a prime concern for those governments,"
Mr. Baghdasaryan said. "Those people are basically left alone. If
there’s a demand for such papers and they have readers, then such a
segment of the press should exist."

Mr. Baghdasryan then commented on the accessibility of information
from various government agencies and noted that oftentimes the replies
received are vague and general.

"It’s absurd. In many cases we have to go back and ask for
clarification of what such agencies and departments state. In general,
state bodies are tight-lipped when it comes to providing specific
answers," the Hetq Editor said and gave the example of the one million
AMD watches presented to officials at the State Revenue Committee
New Year’s party.

"Who received the watches and where did the money come from. When
you ask such specific questions, you don’t get any answers, Mr.

Baghdasaryan said

He said that a political decision must be passed for everything that
happens in Armenia. Thus, he argued that when courts launch cases
involving assaults and attacks on reporters, there is no political
directive from on high to apprehend those responsible and the cases
go unresolved.

"When you cover criminal cases and start to dig, you come to the
realization that what’s lacking is professionalism. Pre-trial criminal
investigations are so poorly conducted and unsupervised that you say to
yourself, who is investigating the investigators?" Baghdasaryan said.

He argued that while journalist at least had the opportunity to write
about violations of the law directed at them, there are people in
the outlying regions of Armenia that have no such defense.

"It’s a tossup. Sometimes we hear about their cases and sometimes they
are never covered, or we find out about them months after the fact.

Instead of focusing on the ethical misconduct of some papers, we should
be focusing on the overall poor level of human rights in Armenia,"
argued Mr. Baghdasaryan.