16:19,

YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament Taguhi Tovmasyan, the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Public Affairs, organized a discussion with participation of journalists regarding the bill drafted by ruling Civil Contract party MPs on amending the Law on Mass Media.

The legislation drafted by Civil Contract’s Artur Hovhannisyan and Lilit Minasyan would empower state bodies to withdraw the accreditation of journalists if they are deemed to have violated “disciplinary rules” of relevant bodies.

The President of the Union of Journalists Satik Seyranyan opposed the bill, saying : “They had to clearly define the grounds for accreditation in order for the conduct of journalists to be predictable and that journalists know in which cases they could face withdrawal of their accreditation, otherwise the area is open and any government agency can arbitrarily decide and remove undesirable journalists or get rid of undesirable questions. They should’ve clearly mentioned the grounds in which case the accreditation can be withdrawn. There is a problem of the demand for the law’s certainty, the grounds aren’t clearly defined, therefore, if there are no grounds then with what will they be guided to make the decision on withdrawing the accreditation?”

Journalist Sevak Vardumyan concurred, saying he doesn’t know in which case he could face withdrawal of accreditation from parliament. “Suppose I laugh a bit loudly in the corridor or hit someone, or push the microphone too close to someone, will I get my accreditation revoked?”

Vardumyan also argued that this bill creates the opportunity of arbitrary decision-making for the relevant bodies.

The Chairman of the Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech Ashot Melikyan also agreed. “This approach ought to be abandoned. The legislation should not provide for the suspension or withdrawal of a journalist’s accreditation.”

MP Tovmasyan in turn complained that the ruling party MPs aren’t holding discussions with the media representatives regarding legislations that concern them.

She said this problem must be regulated in the media sector. “Each editorial board should assume obligation, develop and publish rules of ethics for them, and the state bodies will be able to follow the maintenance of the rules which the media themselves developed,” she said.

Tovmasyan proposed to organize a petition and ask the government to issue a negative conclusion to the bill and also apply to the authors of the legislation with a request to revoke it.