NEITHER FREEDOM, NOR PROTECTION: ARMENIAN EXPERTS EVALUATE MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES’ FREEDOM ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow reporter
03.05.10

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, Armenian mass media experts,
once again stated that freedom of the press is limited in Armenia
yet, mentioning at the same time that online mass media, unlike TV
and print is more independent. (The United Nations General Assembly
declared 3 May to be World Press Freedom Day in 1993.)

According to Shushan Doydoyan, Director and founder of the Freedom
of Information Center of Armenia (FOICA), if the legal consciousness
of the public is raised, then problems will be solved more easily.

According the latest report of the Washington-based Freedom House
independent watchdog organization, Armenia is among "partly free"
countries regarding human rights and political freedoms.

Aravot daily editor Aram Abrahamyan says that merely allowing court
intervention is not enough to defend freedom of press entirely. He
brings the example of A1+ TV channel which was deprived of air in 2002.

"How many times did A1+ appeal to a court? How many contests did it
participate in? And its efforts produced no results," Abrahamyan says.

Boris Navasardyan, Chairman of the Yerevan Press Club, believes that
the cases of violence against journalists will not stop in Armenia,
because citizens of Armenia, as well as journalists are not protected
by the justice system.

"If under current conditions journalists are not subject to violence,
it means that they do not do their duties," Navasardyan says.