YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 3-10, 2008
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" SUPPLEMENT ON THE AIR OF "YERKIR MEDIA"
MEDIA SELF-REGULATION DISCUSSED IN JERMUK
ARMENIAN OFFICIALS DO NOT AGREE WITH THE ASSESSMENT OF MEDIA SITUATION AHEAD
OF ELECTIONS
NEW YPC PUBLICATIONS
OSCE REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA CONCERNED ABOUT THE INCIDENTS
WITH ARMENIAN MEDIA
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS INSTITUTED VERSUS "HAIKAKAN ZHAMANAK" DAILY
A TRIBUTE TO TIGRAN NAGHDALIAN AND GARNIK ANANIAN
SUIT OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT VERSUS "SHANT" TV REFUSED
"YERKIR" WEEKLY TEMPORARILY BECOMES A DAILY
"ZHAMANAK-YEREVAN": A NEW EDITOR IN THE NEW YEAR
"PRESS CLUB" SUPPLEMENT ON THE AIR OF "YERKIR MEDIA"
On December 22 and 29, 2007 on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV company two
first supplements to "Press Club" program cycle were aired. The supplements
deal with the problems of media coverage of election campaign. In the
supplements journalists and public took part. The program is produced under
the project of Media Diversity Institute with the financial assistance of
the US Department of State Public Affairs Section.
MEDIA SELF-REGULATION DISCUSSED IN JERMUK
On December 22-23, 2007 in Jermuk, Vayots Dzor region, a seminar "Ways of
Enhancing Media Role in Armenia" was held. The event was organized by
Yerevan Press Club with the financial support of Open Society Institute. The
representatives of media and journalistic associations discussed the current
projects aiming at strengthening free expression and improving
professionalism. The presentations on the seminar were dealing with such
issues as YPC initiatives on self-regulation institute formation in Armenia,
the role of self-regulation at election time, the linkage between monitoring
the election coverage in media and self-regulation projects, enhancing the
role of media in Armenia in the context of international cooperation.
ARMENIAN OFFICIALS DO NOT AGREE WITH THE ASSESSMENT OF MEDIA SITUATION AHEAD
OF ELECTIONS
On December 18, 2007 the web-site of the Armenian Service of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty published the interview of the Council of Europe
Secretary General Terry Davis to the New York correspondent of RFE/RL. In
the interview Terry Davis disclosed some details of his meeting with the RA
Prime Minister Serge Sargsian, held during the visit of the Armenian
delegation to Brussels and Strasbourg on December 9-11. During the meeting
the upcoming presidential elections in Armenia were discussed, in
particular, the media activities, including the positive coverage of Serge
Sargsian and the negative – of his opponents. "Of course, I agree that any
acting Prime Minister (…) will receive much more publicity than people who
are not prime minister. You have to take that into account. As I was
explaining to the Prime Minister of Armenia, it’s not the number of
references to him or to his political opponents that matters; it was the
overwhelming analysis which showed that the comments were favorable to the
Prime Minister and unfavorable for his opponents. And that’s wrong, that’s
biased, and that’s what’s wrong in a democracy", Terry Davis noted. Summing
up his impressions about the meeting with the Armenian Prime Minister, the
CoE Secretary General made the following assessment: "I think the situation,
as it is analyzed today with the media in Armenia, does not meet the
standards of the Council of Europe to a large extent. There is evidence,
done not by the Council of Europe, but by people on the ground there, in
Yerevan. There’s a very good nongovernmental organization called the Press
Club of Yerevan – they have done the analysis and I referred to their
analysis when I was talking to the Prime Minister."
On December 20 the statement of the co-rapporteur of the Monitoring
Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Georges
Colombier on the visit to Armenia on December 3-5, 2007, was published. As
regards the role of media, Georges Colombier noted that according to the
Armenian law and the assurances received from the Armenian authorities,
there should be equal coverage of the presidential candidates during the
official electoral campaign of Armenia, that is only as of 21 January, 2008.
However, at present, according to media monitoring conducted by the Yerevan
Press Club, there is excessive coverage of the Prime Minister, who
accumulates this capacity with that of presidential candidate, and very
negative coverage of another candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosian. "I insisted
that a more balanced access to the public television should be guaranteed
for all 9 presidential candidates, at least as of 7 December 2007, when all
of them officially submitted their nomination documents to the CEC", the
statement of co-rapporteur of PACE Monitoring Committee noted.
On his behalf, on December 19 the RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsian spoke
about the media situation during the meeting in Yerevan with the EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby. "When a European
official expresses an opinion on the partial media coverage, it should be
born in mind that this opinion is based on unobjective materials presented
to him. If this structure or representative is interested in real situation,
they can contract a specialized organization that would undertake a complete
monitoring, including both electronic and print media. In that case no one
would have any objections regarding impartiality", Serge Sargsian said,
noting that "today it is necessary to have negotiations with a reputable
international organization to ensure a full-scale monitoring of media
coverage of elections with high professional quality" (quoted by the
communication of December 19, 2007, placed on the RA Government’s web-site).
On December 26 Yerevan Press Club and "TEAM" Research Center disseminated
the following statement.
"During the meeting with Peter Semneby, the EU Special Representative for
the South Caucasus, the Prime Minister of Armenia Serge Sargsian qualified
the information about the situation in Armenian media ahead of presidential
elections 20008 that "some European officials" take into account as not
objective, as well as proposed that a "specialized organization" should
undertake a "complete monitoring" that includes both broadcast and print
media.
Because the day before this meeting critical remarks on Armenian media with
a reference to Yerevan Press Club were made by the Council of Europe
Secretary General Terry Davis in his interview to Radio Liberty, we think it
reasonable to take that the RA Prime Minister implied the reports of "TEAM"
Research Center and Yerevan Press Club about the monitoring of 8 broadcast
channels in October and November 2007 to be the "unobjective information".
At least this was the interpretation that a number of media gave to the
words of the head of the Government.
Assessments similar to the one made by the Prime Minister were also voiced
by some other high-ranked officials; however, it is unclear what the basis
for their statements is. If relevant research had been undertaken, it would
be of public value to know what their findings are and what methodology was
used. If the accusations of our "unobjectiveness" are not substantiated by
specific facts we urge to abstain from such categorical statements.
With all due responsibility we announce that the doubts of our objectiveness
are completely groundless. "TEAM" has been engaged in media research since
1996, and Yerevan Press Club since the same time monitored the coverage of
all national elections or took part in similar researches in partnership
with other local and foreign organizations. The technology of these
researches was constantly improved and is currently as valid as possible. It
is based on the methodology, developed by the leading international
organizations, on our many-year experience, as well as profound knowledge of
the subject due to our permanent focus on Armenian media. What else is
necessary to be considered a "specialized organization"?
YPC and "TEAM" never gave any reason to be suspected of political bias.
Being independent non-governmental organizations with mission to support the
free expression, we repeatedly criticized the official structures of
Armenia, but in all cases this criticism followed from principled stance,
commitments to democratic values, but not from bias. Neither through
activities nor through public statements did our organizations ever support
a certain candidate or political force. Unfortunately, in modern Armenia the
responsible professional stance is not viewed as an advantage.
In this regard we on our behalf suggest that European structures, within
their observation of RA presidential elections, make an assessment of the
methodology and the findings of the monitoring implemented by "TEAM" and
Yerevan Press Club. Our work has always been transparent, and its principles
have invariably been explained to public at length: all reports are
presented at press-conferences and are accompanied by a detailed description
of the methodology of the study. Any independent expert, proposed by
international organizations observing the elections, can step into the
monitoring we implement and be convinced of the impartiality of our data and
analysis.
We also support the idea of parallel media monitoring by a specialized
international organization, selected by the structures, invited to observe
the elections. Similar research was undertaken at all RA elections, starting
>From 1995, and their data never ran contrary to ours. If anything could have
created certain technical difficulties of media monitoring this time, it is
the rather belated – only a month before the start of the official
pre-election promotion – invitation of the international observation
missions by the RA National Assembly. If our authorities were truly
interested in monitoring, it would have been reasonable to attend to the
matter in advance, not waiting to be criticized by high-ranked international
officials. The involvement of competent foreign partners in this work will
allow eliminating all doubt regarding the objectiveness of this or that
study.
The broader the coverage of media monitoring is, the fuller the picture to
be obtained. In this regard the suggestion of the RA Prime Minister to
include print media in monitoring effort is quite justified. At this stage
"TEAM" and YPC restricted the scope of media studied by 8 broadcasters for
several reasons: firstly, due to the limited resource and the
appropriateness of focus on those media that pay the greatest attention to
political process in the country and have the broadest audience; secondly,
due to the need to guarantee the high quality of research that calls for
availability of sufficient number of competent monitors; thirdly – and most
importantly – due to the obvious circumstance that broadcast media, using a
public resource, the frequency, have a certain commitment to the public to
have impartial reporting. The approach lies at the heart of international
documents and the national legislation of Armenia.
The appropriate principles of the Council of Europe are reflected in
Recommendation No.R (99)15 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on
Measures Concerning Media Coverage of Election Campaigns. "(…) Aware of
the need to take account of the significant differences which exist between
the print and the broadcast media", the Committee of Ministers recommends:
"(…) Regulatory frameworks on media coverage of elections should not
interfere with the editorial independence of newspapers or magazines or with
their right to express any political preference (…)." At the same time,
"(…) with due respect for the editorial independence of broadcasters,
regulatory frameworks should also provide for the obligation to cover
electoral campaigns in a fair, balanced and impartial manner in the overall
programme services of broadcasters. Such an obligation should apply to both
public service broadcasters as well as private broadcasters in their
relevant transmission areas".
The RA legislation, even though not fully, reflects the provisions of this
and other recommendations of the CoE Committee of Ministers, but also
imposes on broadcast media far greater responsibility than on print press.
Firstly and foremostly, this refers to the public broadcaster, in the
programs of which, according to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", "it is
prohibited to have a predominant political stance". This prohibition is
valid for all activities of the Public TV and Radio Company, and not only
for the period has that preceded the elections. The specifics of broadcast
media and importance of overseeing their compliance with laws and license
terms are emphasized by a setup of a special regulatory body, the National
Commission on Television and Radio, whereas our legislation stipulates no
licensing or special regulation of print media activities.
Hence, should monitoring of print – and hopefully also the online – media be
undertaken, it is necessary to make a clear distinction between its results
and the findings for broadcast media. The work of television and radio
during elections, the level of their objectiveness are a direct
characteristic of how compliant the state is with its political commitments
to international partners. Apparently, this very circumstance shaped the
opinion of the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter
Semneby about the responsibility of the authorities for the pre-election
tone of media that caused another dissatisfied comment from the official
Yerevan.
In this regard we urge the RA authorities not to seek reasons of the
criticism by international organizations in the monitoring we implement,
which is purely a mirror, reflecting the extremely unfavorable media
situation, but to take measures to improve it instead. Our distress with
statements that negatively tell on the international image of Armenia is in
no way inferior to that of the country authorities. Yet we are convinced
that the best way of not having "one’s dirty linen washed in public" is to
keep it clean", the statement of "TEAM" Research Center and YPC said.
"Haikakan Zhamanak" daily on December 22, 2007 informed that, in the opinion
of the RA Central Election Commission Chairman Garegin Azarian, the report
of the Need Assessment Mission of the OSCE/ODIHR on the visit to Armenia on
December 4-5 and published on December 13, 2007 is partial. The newspaper
went further to say that "the report presents the climate existing on the
Armenian TV air, in which the TV companies keep endorsing one presidency
candidate, Serge Sargsian", while an opposition candidate Levon
Ter-Petrosian is constantly criticized by the same broadcasters. According
to "Haikakan Zhamanak", Garegin Azarian answered negatively the question of
whether the CEC Chairman is aware of the findings of the media monitoring,
conducted by Yerevan Press Club, noting at the same time he has no desire to
see them, either.
On December 24 the YPC President Boris Navasardian addressed a letter to the
Chairman of the RA CEC Garegin Azarian. "You have not refuted the report by
‘Haikakan Zhamanak’ daily, so we have every ground to believe that you
really qualify the mentioned report of OSCE/ODIHR as partial", the letter
said in particular. Noting that the statement by OSCE/ODIHR observers about
the bias of the TV companies was supported also by the findings of the
monitoring, implemented by "TEAM" Research Center and Yerevan Press Club for
two months and a half, and that the CEC Chairman has not expressed a wish to
see the results of this study, Boris Navasardian assumed that CEC itself had
administered monitoring and has facts at its disposal, proving the
partiality of OSCE/ODIHR report. In this regard the letter author asked to
explain: whether CEC or – upon its commission – any other organization has
monitored TV air and has come up with different findings; if such study has
been undertaken, what its methodology was, how many TV companies and how
much airtime were studied. Besides, the letter contained a request to
present the results of the monitoring if such has been implemented.
As of the day the YPC Weekly Newsletter was issued, no response from CEC was
received.
NEW YPC PUBLICATIONS
In late 2007 three publications were produced by Yerevan Press Club:
"Karabagh Issue and Armenian-Turkish Relations in the Pre-Election Rhetoric
of Armenian Political Figures", "Media and Elections", "Media
Self-Regulation: First Steps in Armenia".
"Karabagh Issue and Armenian-Turkish Relations in the Pre-Election Rhetoric
of Armenian Political Figures" book analyzes the findings of monitoring on
coverage of the Mountainous Karabagh problem and Armenian-Turkish relations
in 7 print media of Armenia during the election campaign for the RA National
Assembly (April-May 2007). One of the main tasks of the research was to
determine the completeness and adequacy of the press reflection of the
stances of parties, running for seats in the parliament, on the two
important issues on the foreign policy agenda of Armenia. Besides, a number
of adjacent issues were studied: the specifics of the press coverage of
Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations; the accuracy and
reliability of the information published; the existence of ideas and
proposals regarding the normalization of Armenia’s relations with the
neighbor countries in the statements of the politicians and in articles,
etc. The book is published in Armenian, English and Russian languages
(within one cover) with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
"Media and Elections" book is a certain manual for journalists covering
election campaigns. It, in particular, presents the provisions of the RA
Constitution on freedom of expression and clauses of RA legislation on
pre-election promotion; Recommendation R (99)15 of the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers of September 9, 1999, on Measures concerning Media
Coverage of Election Campaigns and its Appendix; fragments from the final
reports of the OSCE/ODIHR observation missions concerning the media
activities during the Armenian parliament and presidential elections of 2003
and parliament elections of 2007; reports of Yerevan Press Club on
monitoring the Armenian media coverage during the election campaigns for the
RA National Assembly and the elections of the RA President in 2003, as well
as the report of the "TEAM" Research Center and YPC on monitoring the
Armenian media coverage of the parliamentary elections of 2007.
"Media Self-Regulation: First Steps in Armenia" contains materials on the
activities of the Media Ethics Observatory since its foundation on March 10,
2007. The brochure includes the Code of Conduct of Media Representatives and
its appendix, the Declaration on Election and Referendum Coverage
Principles; the list of media who signed the documents; the composition of
the MEO and its judgments.
Both books mentioned are published in Armenian language with the support of
the Open Society Institute.
All three publications will soon be placed on YPC web-site
OSCE REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA CONCERNED ABOUT THE INCIDENTS
WITH ARMENIAN MEDIA
On December 24, 2007 the cameraman of "GALA" TV company Grigor Shaghoyan
challenged with the RA General Prosecutor’s Office the resolution of the
investigative department of Shirak Region of the Chief Investigative
Department of the RA Police about the discontinuation of the investigation
on impeding the legitimate professional activities of the journalist.
As it has been reported, on October 22 the owner of "CHAP" LLC, founding
company of "GALA", Vahan Khachatrian issued a statement regarding the
attempts of various power agencies to exert pressure on the TV channel. The
document stressed the infallibility of the TV channel’s stance and the
readiness to prevent any attempt of intervention into its editorial policy.
One week after the statement a tax audit started at "CHAP", after which the
RA State Tax Service reported the violations revealed. In particular, this
referred to concealed amounts of TV advertising and illegal use of the city
tower owned by the Gyumri municipality. The Gyumri Tax Inspection and the
city administration filed respective suits, and the RA Commercial Court
started hearing both suits. The process of the tax audit itself was covered
by "GALA" TV company. On November 6 an incident occurred between the TV
company cameraman Grigor Shaghoyan and a representative of the RA State Tax
Service. The latter attacked the cameraman, took him by the throat and tried
to take the camera away. On the same day Grigor Shaghoyan addressed the
Gyumri Police Department with an appeal of his legitimate professional
activities being impeded. On December 12 the Head of the OSCE Office in
Yerevan, Ambassador Sergey Kapinos addressed a letter to the Head of the RA
Police Haik Harutiunian, the Head of the Gyumri Police Department Hakob
Ghevondian and the Governor of Shirak region Lidia Nanian, requesting to
inform the OSCE Office whether a criminal case had been filed on the
incident. The Ambassador also stressed the need for proper investigation
into the matter. On December 18 Grigor Shaghoyan was notified that criminal
proceedings will not be instituted due to absence of corpus delicti (see
details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, December 14-20, 2007).
On December 21 the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos
Haraszti announced he was concerned that "GALA" TV company may cease
broadcasting as a result of pressure by authorities. "The recent cases of
harassment and violence against independent and opposition media have
contributed to an atmosphere of intimidation and fear in the journalistic
community of Armenia", said the letter of Miklos Haraszti to the Armenian
Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanian. In his letter Miklos Haraszti
expressed hope that "the local authorities will not make arbitrary decisions
and demonstrate goodwill for a compromise settlement, so that ‘GALA’ TV can
continue broadcasting".
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media also expressed his concern
regarding the explosion at the entrance of "Chorrord Ishkhanutiun" newspaper
that occurred in the early morning of December 13 (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, December 7-13, 2007). "I urge Armenia’s law enforcement bodies
to punish the perpetrators not just for the sake of justice, but also to
give support to freedom of expression in the country", Miklos Haraszti
stated, expressing hope that the Government of Armenia will fulfill its OSCE
commitments to ensure safe and favorable working conditions for the media,
so that the media can contribute to a fair election campaign.
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS INSTITUTED VERSUS "HAIKAKAN ZHAMANAK" DAILY
On December 20, 2007 the RA General Prosecutor’s Office instituted criminal
proceedings on Articles 135 ("Libel") and 136 ("Insult") of the RA Criminal
Code versus "Haikakan Zhamanak" daily. The case investigation is assumed by
the Police of the Center community of Yerevan. According to the RA General
Prosecutor’s Office, the criminal proceedings were instituted upon an appeal
by the leader of the National Democratic Union Vazgen Manukian. As it has
been reported, the statement that Vazgen Manukian released on December 19
said that on December 15, 2007 "Haikakan Zhamanak" had published an article
"Mein Kampf – ‘My Struggle’ of Vazgen Manukian". In the beginning of the
publication the newspaper stated that its quotes fragments from a manuscript
titled "How to Do", authored by Vazgen Manukian and discovered on September
27, 1996 during the search at the office of the National Democratic Union.
According to "Haikakan" Zhamanak", the manuscript narrates a series of steps
necessary to implement for Vazgen Manukian to become the President of
Armenia. Vazgen Manukian announced he was not the author of this manuscript
and explained his appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office by "the urgency of the
issue as well as the cynicism, with which the newspaper attempted to insult,
libel" him. "I would not have gone to the Prosecutor’s Office, had the
Editor of the newspaper taken my offer – to send the document for an expert
assessment jointly with my representative", the statement of Vazgen Manukian
stressed (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, December 14-20, 2007).
With regard to the publication in "Haikakan Zhamanak" "Aravot" daily on
December 27, 2007 quoted the interview of the Chief Editor of "Hayastani
Hanrapetutiun" daily Tigran Farmanian to the Armenian Service of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty. In particular, Tigran Farmanian said that the
fragments of manuscript, allegedly authored by Vazgen Manukian, were
published in "02" newspaper on October 17 and 31, 1996. The newspaper was
the print organ of the RA Ministry of Interior and at that time was headed
by Tigran Farmanian. In the lead to the first publication, Tigran Farmanian
noted, it was mentioned that the manuscript was found on the table of Vazgen
Manukian during the search, however, it was not maintained that he was the
author.
A TRIBUTE TO TIGRAN NAGHDALIAN AND GARNIK ANANIAN
On December 28, 2007 at Journalism Department of Yerevan State University a
lecture room was inaugurated, named after the Chairman of the Council of the
Public TV and Radio Company of Armenia Tigran Naghdalian, assassinated this
day five years ago. The Tigran Naghdalian lecture room was set up with the
assistance of Public TV and Radio Company. During the ceremony it was
announced the PTRC has also established a special Tigran Naghdalian
Scholarship for YSU journalism students.
On the same day the Center of Multimedia Journalism at YSU Journalism
Department was given the name of one of its founder, the corresponding
member of the RA National Science Academy, Professor Garnik Ananian, the
many-year dean of journalism school, who passed away in November 2007.
SUIT OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT VERSUS "SHANT" TV REFUSED
On January 9, 2008 the court of primary jurisdiction of Arabkir and
Kanaker-Zeytun communities of Yerevan announced the ruling on the suit of
Armenian National Movement (ANM) versus "Shant" TV company. As it has been
reported, the plaintiff demanded that the TV company refute the information
discrediting to the party that was communicated on November 30, 2007 on the
evening "Horizon" newscast of "Shant" TV channel. The newscast reported an
anonymous phone call to the newsroom with threats to explode the TV company
if it aired libel on the First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian once
again. The information had also a comment from the program host: "We condemn
any terrorist step, any threat – whether from ANM or any other political
force." In the opinion of the plaintiff, in "Shant" communication the
anonymous phone threat was unduly linked to ANM, which discredited the
reputation and dignity of the party and its members. The court hearing
started on December 13, 2007 (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, December
14-20, 2007).
At the session of January 9 the suit of ANM was refused. In the opinion of
the court, the communication of "Shant" TV company contained no elements
discrediting to ANM.
"YERKIR" WEEKLY TEMPORARILY BECOMES A DAILY
On January 8, 2008 "Yerkir" newspaper, the official organ of the Supreme
Body of "Dashnaktsutiun" party of Armenia, started to be published five
times a week. As YPC was told by the editorial staff of the newspaper, the
transition from weekly publication to daily is related to the upcoming
presidential elections, after which "Yerkir" will become a weekly again.
"ZHAMANAK-YEREVAN": A NEW EDITOR IN THE NEW YEAR
Starting since 2008 the executive editor of "Zhamanak-Yerevan" daily is
Aydin Morikian, previously the head of "Hayastani Hanrapetutiun", "Orran",
"Avangard" newspapers, "Hayatsk Yerevanits" magazine.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
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0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
