Epress.am News from Armenia
As in previous years, Gyumri will mark Freedom of Speech Day today. NGO representatives, journalists, editors and other members of the press are invited to Armenia’s second-largest city to mark the occasion.
During celebrations, awards will be distributed to outstanding news outlets and journalists, who will also be treated to food and entertainment at Gyumri’s October Cinema at 2 pm.
Freedom of Speech Day is traditionally marked in Gyumri on Mar. 25, the day when thanks to a nationwide fundraising drive, it was possible to defend Gyumri’s GALA TV, which was at risk of being shut down by the authorities three years ago.
In March 2008, authorities imposed a fine of a little less than 27 million drams (about $73,973 US) on the independent TV station, but this resulted in an unprecedented phenomenon in Armenia’s history: individual people began to voluntarily donate funds to the TV station, which led to GALA announcing a fundraising campaign. The result? GALA received 26,458,500 drams from the public and paid the remaining 441,000 drams from its own account to cover the fine and was able to stay on the air.