Pursuant to the annual report of “Freedom House” human rights organization, Armenia is in the 17th position among the most free countries in terms of freedom of Internet, Turkey is in the 38th position, Azerbaijan – 39th. Russia is in the 41st, and Iran – 60th place concluding the scoring table.
Aravot.am asked the Chairman of Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression Ashot Melikyan whether the indicator of the freedom of internet is enough to talk about the progress in freedom of expression, Mr. Melikyan replied, the reports of “Freedom House” are always documented. In this case, we also agree with the report. In Armenia, the online mass media is more free than broadcasters because the broadcasting industry is a subject of total control by the authorities. In 2002, when A1+ was shut down, according to the scale of “Freedom House” we found ourselves among the least free in terms of freedom of press. I think that the press in Armenia is semi-free, we have non-free broadcasting sector. The media is semi-free, because it is divided into different political and economic camps. The online media sector is relatively free, although, some attempts were noticed here in terms of restricting the freedom in this sector.”
In response to our observation whether there is no contradiction in the matter that, on the one hand, studies have shown that the pressures against journalists have been increased, on the other hand, the RA authorities claims that a progress is being made in freedom of expression, Mr. Melikyan responded, “There are some improvements. In any case, the number of physical violence is reduced. The number of pressures is a wavy phenomenon. There are peaks and cases when the number of pressures falls down. But, the situation is not satisfactory at all. The facts and figures speak to the fact that there are many problems.
The authorities are always trying to show the situation in a good shape, in pink colors, but it is not like that, therefore, we follow the situation and report violations.”
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
