“It seems like asking the leadership of concentration camp about freedoms. They would, of course, say in the concentration camp that they have so much freedom that it is enough”,-so responded Levon Barseghyan, Board Chairman of “Asbarez” club, to the question of Aravot.am of what the statements of the RA authorities are coming from saying that the press in Armenia is free, and the discrepancy between the estimates of the international organizations about the freedom of press in Armenia.
Note the “Reporters Without Borders” organization released its “Freedom of the Press 2014” report, in which Armenia ranks in the 78th place among 180 countries, being included in the group of countries with noticeable problems. According to Mr. Barseghyan, the contradiction also stems from the “Cognitive contradictory syndrome of the authorities. The defend their regime, it is not the government side, it is the wording of the regime.” It is amazing for Mr. Barseghyan that the press freedom situation is better in Armenia than in Georgia, where the diversity of opinions on TV is more than in Armenia. According to Levon Barseghyan, the studies conducted by “Reporters without Borders” organization were remarkable with their mildness. Note that referring to this report, the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, expressed the following opinion, “We must always remember that we already have a very high degree of freedom of press.
The “Reporters without Borders” has recently published its 2014 report on index of the world press freedom, according to which, Armenia is a leader in our region, ahead of all its neighbors. According to this report, we are even ahead of some EU countries on the press freedom, such as Greece, Bulgaria, not to speak about Georgia, Ukraine, and other countries, which were considered as islets of freedom and democracy. This definitely is a serious achievement. And it did not happen by chance. It is our achievement.” Levon Barseghyan considered interpreting Serzh Sargsyan’s thoughts an “unproductive task”, and noted, “If there is a progress in freedom of expression in Armenia, it is definitely not thanks to him and his administration. This person confuses freedom of expression with freedom of the press, when necessary he relies on studies of some organizations, when it is not necessary, he does not rely on similar reports. This person during his tenure has proved multiple times that his word is different from the practice and reality. Once, when he was saying that the gas price will not go up, it was already high. We interpret the words of this person for what? During Hillary Clinton’s visit, he promised that there would be a new law on television and radio. So far the law in missing. In the last 15 years, there had been more than 200 attacks over the mass media journalists and NGO sector, hardly five of them were partially or fully disclosed, 12 journalist’s vehicles were burnt, and none of them was identified, and this person is talking about freedoms of expression and the press?” Boris Navasardyan, President of Yerevan Press Club, believes that the members of the mass media are subjected to serious political pressure in Armenia. Referring to the report, he said, “The estimates of the “Reporters without Borders” organization regarding the situation of the press in Armenia and generally in the post-Soviet countries are quite mild, because based on their methodology they more take into account the rights of the countries, where the journalists are murdered and kidnapped. And, in our country, where intervening the freedom of expression bears political nature, the methodology of this organization could not sufficiently take it into account.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
