EU Special Representative: `Armenian authorities have a responsibility
to set the right tone for the media’
December 21, 2007
Yerevan /Mediamax/.
Special Representative of the European Union in the South Caucasus
Peter Semneby stated in an interview to Mediamax today that `the
authorities have a responsibility to set the right tone for the media
while avoiding direct interference’.
Peter Semneby said this in a telephone interview to Mediamax from
Brussels, commenting on the results of his two-day visit to Armenia. He
noted that `the access to broadcasting media and the quality of
coverage on TV has been raised as an important concern in many of the
meetings I have had in Yerevan’.
`Both public TV and independent TV stations have a responsibility to
cover the candidates in a fair way in the news, in talk-shows, and so
on. It is also important to make sure there is no pressure on
independent broadcasters through selective enforcement of laws and
regulations, or by other means. The media issues will be followed with
particular attention by the EU and the international observers’, Peter
Semneby stated.
Commenting on the contradictory statements on coverage of the
activities of the president’s candidates, the Special Representative of
the EU in the South Caucasus stated: `it is obvious that different
methodologies will highlight different issues and problems’.
`During my visit, I met with the Yerevan Press Club, whose work I
appreciate. The OSCE monitors will also conduct their own media
monitoring as the formal campaign gets underway. It is clearly a good
thing to have several parallel monitoring efforts, which will analyze
the media coverage from different angles’, Special representative of
the EU stated in an interview to Mediamax.