The theme of “Aravot” online on the air is discussed by NA MP Artak Davtyan (RPA) and Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, Ashot Melikyan.
Aram Abrahamyan – Pursuant to recent report by “Reporters without Borders” organization, Armenia ranks the 78th place on media freedom, Georgia – 84th, Azerbaijan –160th, Turkey – 154th, Iran –173th, and Russia – 147. By this classification, the top three are Finland, the Netherlands and Norway, and the United States ranks only 46th place. To what extent are these companies prestigious to you, and to what extent is this assessment objective?
Artak Davtyan – To be honest, I have read your comments on this issue and I completely share your opinion. To be expressed in one sentence, I think, it objectively reflects what exists today. There should be some areas where we can be compared with the United States. I have had the opportunity to address this issue at the National Assembly, I have also said that it really is one of our greatest achievements, and taking the chance, let me express thanks to all journalists, it is first and foremost the result of your work what we are witnessing today.
A. A. – Are the assessments objective, or not, and is the company reputable or not?
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Ashot Melikyan – Both yes and no. I agree with the assessment that the situation has more or less worsened, and in our reports, we have reflected numerous facts: both obstacles and physical violence, and in this regard, the fact that Armenia has dropped from 74 to 78, I think, objectively witnesses the situation. However, I must make one reservation here regarding the estimates by “Reporters Without Borders” international organization because for the umpteenth year in a row, if we compare the assessments of this organization to the ones by “Freedom House”, there is an obvious contradiction here. “Freedom House”, for example, believes that among the post-Soviet countries, apart from the Baltic states, Georgia and Moldova are among semi-freedom countries by media index. All the others, including Armenia, are among no-freedom. In my opinion, the standards by “Freedom House” are much more substantiated because they include the assessment of both legislative environment and the effect of political factors on the work of journalists, and economic potentials, in other words, they are comprehensive assessments.
A. A. – As a legislature in legislative environment, for instance, which is bad?
A. D. – I must say again that I have had the opportunity to speak about this. Our basic laws on mass media, freedom of information, are the fundamental laws, which, in fact, are almost not amended, we know that the law on mass media, from the moment of its adoption, they were just missing, and we also know that many years ago, when a similar experience was done by our the then partner Viktor Dallakyan, we just saw what is meant by saying a journalistic solidarity. When we are speaking of “Reporters without Borders” and “Freedom House” organizations, I must say that it seems to me that “Freedom House” provides a little more politicized assessments, which I think is not the best, purely from objective point of view. The “Reporters Without Borders” goes through purely journalistic prism. In terms of legislation, of course, we have a lot of work to do, and first of all, amendments in the law on “Television and Radio”. We know that it is not a long way off when our broadcasting we be digitalized, we just need to manage these processes. Perhaps, one of the largest gaps in the legislation is as follows: we know that years ago, we decriminalized some articles, but it seems that the problem has been moved to a different field. Quite many lawsuits appear in the courts, and just winning these lawsuits, the media appears not in good financial shape, if not to say that there are media that have appear under the threat of closure. I think we jointly need to try finding some balance, maybe a certain size or limit should be put in case of winning these lawsuits, depending, let’s say, if it is a print media, then on the circulation, associated with some financial flows and so on.
The discussion in fill:
Prepared by ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
“Face to Face” talk show series are released by the Open Society Foundations- Armenia. The views and analyzes found in this broadcast express the opinions of the participants, and are not approved by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, or its Board. This broadcast is made available thanks to comprehensive financial support by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, under the mass media support program, grant No 18624.
