The 7th article of the Armenian Law on Mass Media is regarding restrictions of the freedom of speech in the sphere of the media. It says, “It is prohibited to disseminate information obtained by video and audio recording conducted without notifying the person of the fact or recording, when the person expected to be out of sight or earshot of the implementer of video and audio recording and has taken sufficient measures to ensure it, with the exception of situations when such measures were obviously not sufficient.”
The My Step faction carried out insufficient measures during the May 21st session. The deputies’ speeches were audible to journalists outside the room due to the fact that they were speaking into the loudspeaker.
Aravot Daily would not have published the recording had the head of the faction not made an announcement. “I officially deny that there were any discussions about dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council or the Constitutional Court. That is slander. I request that no one spread misinformation.” By the way, such a claim- calling any publication misinformation or slander- demands being regarded with reservations.
Perhaps the My Step faction should have made some changes in procedure after what happened. Perhaps they also should not hold speeches over the loudspeaker during private sessions anymore or at least not assemble for such sessions in parliament.
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But instead, publications have been made, according to which there have been attempts to involve the National Security Service in this matter in order to find the source of this. They even wish to limit the movement of journalists in the parliament building, and they also wish to have their assistants control all of this…
It’s a pity that former colleagues who used to work as journalists are now speaking about ethical violations.
This was not a wiretapped conversation, nor was it one that was of a personal nature; no discussion was held that contained personal details. Instead, it was a discussion regarding a topic interesting to the public: dissolving the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Judicial Council.
As a reminder, Aravot Daily has its own code of ethics, and it also has joined the Code of Ethics for Armenian Media and Journalists. And we call upon all those who believe that an ethical violation was made to at least appeal to the Media Ethics Observatory to receive a conclusion about whether or not there was a violation before appealing to the NSS or before attempting to restrict the activities of the media.
Anna Israelyan
