YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
MARCH 12-18, 2010
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: CIVIL SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT
AMENDMENTS, STIFFENING PUNISHMENT FOR IMPEDING JOURNALISTIC ACTIVITIES, AND
ON PROTECTION OF INFORMATION SOURCES, ADOPTED
PACKAGE OF DRAFT LAWS ON DECRIMINALIZATION OF LIBEL AND INSULT ENDORSED IN
FIRST HEARING
REPLACEMENTS AT THE RA PRESIDENT’S OFFICE AND PUBLIC TELEVISION
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND PRESS IN ARMENIA IN 2009
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: CIVIL SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT
On March 16, 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. The guests of the program host, YPC President
Boris Navasardian were Karineh Danielian, Chairwoman of Association "For
Sustainable Human Development", Head of National Committee of United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), and Mariam Sukhudian, member of Public
Committee on Protection of Teghout Deposit. The discussion centered on the
role of civil society in solving ecological issues.
The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on March 23, at
21.15.
AMENDMENTS, STIFFENING PUNISHMENT FOR IMPEDING JOURNALISTIC ACTIVITIES, AND
ON PROTECTION OF INFORMATION SOURCES, ADOPTED
On March 17 RA National Assembly adopted in the second hearing and finally
the draft law "On Introducing Amendments and Supplements to the RA Criminal
Code". As it has been reported, the document was considered in first hearing
on November 17, 2009. The authors of the draft, NA deputies from "Orinats
Yerkir" faction Hovhannes Margarian and Heghineh Bisharian, suggested to
stiffen punishment for impeding the journalistic activities by amending
Article 164 ("Impeding the Legitimate Professional Activities of a
Journalist") of RA Criminal Code. The initiative was stipulated by a number
of facts indicative of the scarce level of protection of journalists (see
YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 13-19, 2009).
The amendments to the Article 164, endorsed by the parliament at the session
of March 17, regarded the aggravation of penalties, envisaged by Part 1 and
2 of the Article. The latter was also supplemented with a new 3rd Part.
Henceforth Article 164 of Criminal Code reads as follows: impeding the
legitimate professional activities of a journalist or forcing the journalist
to disseminate or not the information is sentenced by a fine of 200-400
minimum wage (Part 1); the same actions, performed by an official with use
of his/her position is sentenced by a fine of 400-700 minimum wage, or by
imprisonment for not more than 3 years, or by imprisonment for the same term
with deprivation of right to hold certain posts or conduct certain
activities within not more than 3 years (Part 2); the actions, envisaged by
Parts 1 and 2, attended by either use of violence, or a threat of its use,
dangerous for the life and health of the journalist or a member of his/her
family, is sentenced by imprisonment for 3-7 years (Part 3).
On the same day, on March 17, the parliament enacted in second hearing and
finally another draft law on protection of information sources, initiated by
NA deputy Hovhannes Margarian. As it has been reported, the draft law "On
Introducing an Amendment to the RA Criminal Procedure Code" was endorsed in
first hearing on October 28, 2009 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, October 23-29,
2009).
The amendment, adopted in second hearing, deals with the Part 2 of Article
16 of RA Criminal Procedure Code ("The Publicity of Court Litigation") that
lists the cases of holding executive court sessions. The Part was
supplemented by Point 4, which stipulates that an executive court session is
assigned whenever a court decision obliges a person, accomplishing
information activities, or a journalist to disclose the information source,
and if it is petitioned by the latter.
PACKAGE OF DRAFT LAWS ON DECRIMINALIZATION OF LIBEL AND INSULT ENDORSED IN
FIRST HEARING
On March 18 at the session of RA National Assembly the package of draft laws
"On Introducing Amendments and Supplements to the RA Civil Code", "On
Introducing Amendments to the RA Criminal Code" and "On Introducing an
Amendment to the RA Criminal Procedure Code" was adopted in first hearing.
The drafts, initiated by deputies Hovhannes Margarian ("Orinats Yerkir"
party), Ruben Gevorgian ("Prosperous Armenia" party) and Hovhannes Sahakian
(Republican Party of Armenia), propose to decriminalize libel and insult,
and introduce the institute of moral loss compensation. Yet, unlike the
amendments, stiffening penalty for impeding journalistic activities and
protecting the information sources (see above), this package cannot be
definitely welcome.
Although both international organizations and the Armenian journalistic
community have been talking about the necessity of decriminalization of
libel and insult, this issue requires a high level of qualified and
responsible approach. Meanwhile, within last year, the whole process of
developing the legislative package raised serious concerns by the
journalistic community (see Special Issue of YPC Weekly Newsletter of July
27, 2009). Its first version, prescribing only amendments to Civil Code, was
initiated in weird circumstances by the Media Law Institute and did not
deserve but mockery. Nevertheless, it immediately drew the attention of
major TV channels, which are, as a rule, indifferent to the problems of
media legislation.
In no less weird circumstances, without any prior discussion at the
parliament, the draft was submitted to Venice Commission. After an extremely
critical assessment of experts, it was turned into a package of draft laws,
initiated by its present authors. In fact, the further work consisted in
simply transforming the remarks of Venice Commission experts in the package,
without taking into account the Armenian legislative and law-enforcement
practice. Moreover, this was carried out without consultations and
discussions with journalists and NGOs, who actively work in the media
sphere. It seems that the hasty adoption of the document is a purpose in
itself. This impression was backed up by the fact that despite the
objections of RA Government, the package was approved in first hearing.
No wonder that in this case many provisions of the drafts seem to be shallow
and groundless. In particular, they do not provide for a clear difference
between the notions of false denunciation, libel and insult. And so far as
the false denunciation, sanctioned by the Criminal Code, is being
continually confused with libel in our judiciary practice, what
decriminalization can we talk about?!
The package approved in first hearing does not set forth due procedures for
defining the size of moral loss, either. Meanwhile, considering the poor
experience, and, consecutively, the low level of proficiency of the Armenian
judicial system in settling information disputes, the ambiguity of
legislative provisions is fraught with crucial mistakes for media and
journalists. This raises sufficient concerns of the media representatives
who oppose the authorities and venture critics against them. One or two lost
cases with demands to apply the largest size of moral loss can lead to the
insolvency of such media.
P.S. A detailed analysis of the package of draft laws will be presented by
YPC as soon as the official text of the document, enacted in first hearing,
is released.
REPLACEMENTS AT THE RA PRESIDENT’S OFFICE AND PUBLIC TELEVISION
On March 12 Armen Arzumanian was appointed as Press Secretary of RA
President. From 2001 till the new appointment Armen Arzumanian was the
Executive Director of the Public Television of Armenia. Samvel Farmanian,
who held the position of RA President’s Press Secretary since 2008, became
the Director of News Programs of Public Television and Public Radio of
Armenia. The post of the Executive Director of the Public Television of
Armenia is filled by Armen Amirian, who was earlier, since 2002, the
Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia.
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND PRESS IN ARMENIA IN 2009
On March 11 the US Department of State released the report on human rights
practices in different countries of the world in 2009, 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; however, the government did not
respect always these rights in practice", and "there continued to be
incidents of violence, intimidation, and self-censorship against and in the
press throughout the year". The report also emphasizes that media,
especially television, lack political diversity and objective reporting.
"The print media generally expressed a wide variety of views without
restriction but remained influenced by economic or political interest groups
or individuals", restated the report authors, noting that greater plurality
of opinion exists in online publications, although their readership is
limited, especially outside Yerevan. "Most stations were owned by
progovernment politicians or well-connected businessmen, factors that
continued to prompt journalists working for these stations to practice
self-censorship. Major broadcast media generally expressed progovernment
views and avoided editorial comment or reporting critical of the
government."
Unlike the February 2008 presidential elections, when progovernment media
"showed a distinct bias in favor of the official candidate and eventual
winner, then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsian", the coverage of the campaign
for the elections of Yerevan Council of Elderly in May 2009 was more
neutral. "According to the monitoring of media coverage of the election
campaign, conducted by the Yerevan Press Club (YPC), 96 percent of all
references to the political parties/bloc contesting the election were
neutral (…). Nevertheless, the YPC stated in its media monitoring report
that certain television channels gave clear preference to one or another
candidate and party", the report of US Department of State says.
Among other considerable political events of 2009 the Department of State
highlighted the protocols on the establishment of relations between Armenia
and Turkey: the Armenian broadcast and print media extensively covered the
public debates on the protocols, "permitting the expression of wide-ranging
viewpoints that were both in favour and in opposition to the documents".
During 2009 the journalists continued to be targets of attacks, the report
stresses, and the failure to prosecute such cases fosters an atmosphere of
impunity and serves to provoke further attacks against journalists. The
report lists the incidents, trials regarding media representatives.
The US Department of State did not pass over the media legislation, either.
Thus, the amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", adopted on
April 28, 2009 by RA National Assembly, in the opinion of local experts, did
not ensure the independence of broadcast regulatory body. The report also
mentions, that on December 9, 2009 the National Assembly elected four new
members to the National Commission on Television and Radio, and quotes the
opinion of Styopa Safarian, NA deputy from "Heritage" faction: "not all
candidates clearly meet the requirements laid out by the law" and no
prominent media experts or civil society representatives took part in the
selection process. The report presents the situation created after the
two-year moratorium on holding broadcast licensing competitions, which was
imposed in 2008 under the pretext of switching from analog to digital
broadcasting in Armenia. The Department of State also cited the opinions of
some journalists regarding the procedure of accreditation of journalists,
approved by NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamian on August 21, 2009: the new document
is excessively restrictive and hinders the reporting on the activities of
the parliament.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
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