ON JOURNALISTS’ ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA ON THE OCCASION OF THE PUBLICATION OF ARAVOT DAILY
National Assembly of RA
Sept 3 2009
Armenia
The comments of Aravot caused deep doubt in the National Assembly
(22.08.2009 "Free Access to the National Assembly Stops for
Journalists," page 1, and Anna Israyelyan’s "Role of the National
Assembly Continues to Rapidly Rise," page 3) on the new procedure
of the journalists’ accreditation in the National Assembly of the
Republic of Armenia.
It’s surprising that an acute and professional journalist like
Mrs. Israyelyan did not present any legal professional view in his
article and published her immediate response, by which violating 1st
and 2nd Rules, which is posted on Aravot website. It’s also surprising
that Mrs. Israyelyan made ungrounded claims in her article on the
legislation of the Republic of Armenia.
We’ll touch upon the abovementioned publications, in fact,
concentrating on the legal and practical key issues.
1. The new order (clause 25) also stipulates an opportunity for the
accredited journalists in case of not being a public event to visit a
deputy to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia or staff
of the RA National Assembly. By the way, this rule is also in force
for accredited journalists.
2. Unlike Mrs. Israyelyan’s claim, in the previous years the
journalists’ accreditation in the RA National Assembly has not begun
from August 1 (in 2008 – from August 15, in 2007 – from August 20,
in 2006 -from August 15 ).
3. For the accreditation the demands being presented to the mass
media are forced by the 2nd clause of the Article 6 of the Law
of the Republic of Armenia on Mass Media (Law N LA-14-N, entered
into force on 08.02.2004): "In the state bodies in the journalists’
accreditation procedure are defined 1) The demands being presented
to the media (the kind of the means of media, territory of spreading,
number of copies of the press, etc.), in case of which its journalist
is accredited." In other words, the law obliges to define certain
criteria in the accreditation procedure, what has been done.
4. It’s worth noting that it’s not a novelty not to accredit the
journalists of TV and Radio companies, which do not have a press
centre in Yerevan from regional TV companies by the new procedure: it
has been in force till now, according to the accreditation procedure,
which was approved in 2003.
5. In the provisions of the published procedure on the opportunity
of stopping the accreditation there is no novelty. Mechanisms of the
same content are designed, for example, according to the 4th clause of
Article 6 of RA Article on Mass Media, by the decision of On Approving
the Exemplary Procedure of the Journalists’ Accreditation in RA State
Government Bodies (Decision N 333-N, entered into force on 17.04.2004)
and, in particular, by the "c" sub-clause of the 13th clause of the
latter. The mentioned legal documents have been available to all
journalists during the last 5 years.
6. The demand of honouring the working procedure of the state body,
in the present case, the National Assembly, also emanates from the law
of the Republic of Armenia on Mass Media, from the 5th clause of the
Article 6, in particular, "The accredited journalist organizes his/her
work in accordance with the journalists’ accreditation procedure in
the given body and rules of the working procedure." Here also there
is no novelty.
The new procedure on the journalists’ accreditation in the National
Assembly of the Republic of Armenia has been elaborated as a result
of professional serious and long lasting discussions, accepting as
a basis the legislation of the Republic of Armenia on the issue,
as well as the standards adopted by the parliaments of the European
countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Great Britain, Republic
of Macedonia of the former Yugoslavia and more than 20 other states).
The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia expressed its
willingness to give all necessary clarifications over this new
procedure of the journalists’ accreditation, as well as discuss it
with all concerned organizations and individuals.